Crossed
by lady-harker
Summary: A Sci-Fi geek is at home having fun when one of her favourite characters appears in her living room. How did they get there? What's she supposed to do with them? But most importantly will they ever stop arguing with her? sort of AU
1. And Life Was So Normal

**Disclaimer: **Don't own characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer or any other shows mentioned throughout this fic.

**Author's Notes: **Something I'm just trying out and is my first Buffy fic. Not a lot happens really to begin with but everything starts somewhere. Please let me know what you think of the style and how I've written it. Thanks.

**Chapter One: And Life Was So Normal**

"Bye!" She called as the bluey-green car pulled off the driveway. "Have a good time! No need to rush! I am 17 now!" She waved as her grandparents drove off to attend one of the many meetings they had on any given Wednesday evening. Once they'd driven out of sight down the road she quickly shut the door and hopped about on the doormat to shake out the cold night's air. Picking up the key from in one of the many drawers by the door she locked it. As she did this she absent-mindedly traced her fingers along one of the patterns of the two mock-stained-glass windows set into the door. She didn't really like them particularly but they were a little bit of niceness in her drab, dull and meaningless existence.

She immediately shook these thoughts out of her head. More and more recently she'd been feeling dissatisfied with her life. Not that there was any way to rectify this feeling, not really. But every so often she'd be granted a release from her life. A night when she didn't have to worry about anything because she had the house to herself and she could sing; something she never had the nerve to do with her grandparent around. Each time she did they'd always comment on how she'd be singing off-key or sounding too sharp or too flat or not putting enough emotion into it, even if they had no idea what song she was attempting.

With them out for about four hours, she could sing to her hearts content. Anything and everything, from Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious to Family Portrait, from Lazytown to the Lion King, the world of music was hers to sing perfectly (or if she felt in the mood, deliberately imperfectly). Tonight, though she wasn't in the mood to sing a song such as she usually did. No tonight she felt a bit more musically inclined. Climbing the stairs two at a time, she went into the back bedroom usually saved for when her sister stayed on her visits from university but which held her own computer (no laptop for her which was actually no big deal) above which sat the small collection of music she'd collected. Her fingers passed over her Pop Party CDs (whatever possessed her to buy those she still couldn't figure out), her 3 Busted albums, several Westlife and Steps singles and finally settled on the right one.

Yes. Just what was required to lighten her dampened and exam-drenched stress. She held it in her hands and looked at its cover. She still couldn't believe she actually owned it. When she'd first gone to buy it, it was £14 and, as much as she wanted it, she couldn't justify spending that much on just one CD; it wasn't who she was. She could hardly believe her luck when, just a few short weeks ago, it came up in HMV's sale under the 'two for £10' offer. Along with this she'd bought Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End soundtrack. She'd been lucky. To be honest she'd only bought the second CD so she could buy this one.

Rushing down the stairs, she carefully placed the disc into the ageing, but fully-functioning, hi-fi system her grandparents owned. Pressing play, her excitement grew as she heard the orchestra striking up before slowly coming back down into a small plinky plonky tune. Her chest almost exploded with warmth as Sarah-Michelle Gellar began singing.

_Every single night the same arrangement,_

_I go out and fight the fight,_

_Still I always feel this strange estrangement…_

Going Through the Motions. The first song on the soundtrack of 'Once More With Feeling'.

Back in September she'd found starting a new school for Sixth Form wasn't easy. She'd made friends easily enough, easier than she had before, and settled into her classes quickly enough but still nothing had quite felt right and she didn't know why. To cheer herself up she'd gone to Milton Keynes Central Library like she often did. She felt confident she'd find a new Manga or Graphic Novel to disappear into for a few days and while there she'd glanced over the DVDs. Looking through it she'd seen one she'd kept seeing several times while scanning the shelves in HMV and Zavvi (before it closed). It was a Buffy the Vampire Slayer DVD with the words, Once More With Feeling written musically across the bottom. The cover seemed to hark back to the kind you saw on musicals from the 50s and had made her laugh.

She remembered having watched Buffy, and liking it, numerous times before she lived with her grandparents but nothing really about the episodes themselves. So she'd borrowed it from the library at a charge of £1.25 for one week and, curled up in her pyjamas and beneath her covers, she'd watched it that very night.

She'd felt very stupid the next morning as, after crying at how brilliant it was, she'd stayed up and watched it several more times before settling into possibly the most musically inclined sleep she'd ever had. After returning it to the library, she'd check HMV and Zavvi every single time she visited the Centre: MK to see if they had it in stock and if they did how much it was. Unfortunately, HMV was selling it for £25 and Zavvi, when it had finally got a copy, was selling it for £12 which she didn't have at the time and when she returned one week later Zavvi had permanently closed its doors.

Luckily though, while on a French Exchange with her school she'd bought Once More With Feeling along with the rest of Season Six on DVD; and despite her worst fears it had automatically played in English with the option of changing to French dubbing. Of course she hadn't told her grandparents and it spent most of the time hidden in one of many hiding places where things of such great value were kept and she moved them around every so often.

Presently, after pulling the curtains across the windows and turning on a few of the lamps, she curled up in one of the green armchairs by the window and listened as the CD continued through I've Got a Theory. As Nicholas Brendon muttered something about witches she watched the lamplight play across the glass section which made up about two-thirds of the coffee table that stood lengthways going towards the gas fireplace. Once the orchestra reached the beginning of The Mustard she carefully stood up and silently shifted the coffee table, manoeuvring it around another chair and past a sofa into the other room. Rushing back there was a large space just big enough for one person to swing around in energetically, which was very handy as I'll Never Tell had just began to play. Standing in the middle of the room she began bopping crazily like she always did when she was 'dancing'. One day she would watch it again just for the sole purpose of learning the dance that Xander and Anya had for this song.

'Dear God," she thought, "if my friends could see me now what would they be thinking?" she couldn't help smiling at this thought. They probably wouldn't bat an eyelid. She had a habit of doing something…scratch that…ANYthing to stop herself being bored and to be honest her friends had given up on expecting her to be normal in that respect.

_His eyes are beady._

_This is my verse, hello! She-_

_Look at me! I'm dancing crazy!_

She tried to mimic the dance moves as the music in the instrumental played and wasn't sure if she was doing them even half-right. She didn't care. Life, her life, needed more moments like these; moments when she felt free. Free to look like an idiot with no one there to judge her.

"That's some fancy footwork you got going there." said a voice.

She froze and opened her eyes, which she hadn't even realised she'd closed while dancing, and found she was facing towards the fireplace. Above the fireplace hung a rectangular mirror which she'd found out last week was surrounded by a design referred to only as Gatsby. She'd found this funny as part of her A level English work she was studying the Great Gatsby for her exams. Looking in this mirror she saw a man stood just by the bottom of the stairs which descended into the living room, leaning casually on the bottom balustrade while a smile played across their lips. She tried to breathe in but her breathe caught in her throat. Surely not? Turning, quickly, she saw the same man stood at the bottom of the stairs with the same relaxed stance, the same smile.

This was too much and she opened her mouth and screamed. Not one of those high-pitched squeals but rather a more throaty panicked yell of 'Ahh…' that went on and on. The guy at the bottom of the stairs grimaced as she began screaming and jumped forward. She automatically took a step back and she stood on a part of the carpet which had been smoothed down by the coffee table being there almost constantly, causing her to lose her footing. She fell backwards, still screaming, anticipating the painful slam of the floor against her back as she landed.

But she didn't. Somehow the guy at the bottom of the stairs had leapt forward, slipped his arm around her and caught her quite a few feet above the ground. Now he was holding her up with his right arm while he had his left hand clamped over her mouth to stop her screaming.

"God!" he said. "You've got a pair of lungs on you."

She stared up and looked into his steely blue-grey eyes.

"Now I'm going to remove my hand from your mouth." he stated plainly as though explaining it to a child. "But I can't do that if you're going to start wailing again." He gazed deep into her eyes to see if she was registering what he were saying. "Are you going to scream?"

She shook her head vigorously.

"Promise?"

She nodded.

Gently he lifted her up so she was standing vertically again and pulled his left hand away from her mouth. She didn't scream but instead stood there gawping at him.

"What?" he said cluelessly. "Have I got something on my face?" he reached up a hand to his cheek and something behind her caught his eye. "Bloody hell!" he pushed past her quite roughly and she was shocked she'd felt anything as she didn't take her eyes from him. He couldn't be real. Could he?

He ran a hand, the one he'd raised to his face, through his hair. She'd almost immediately thought platinum, but it wasn't platinum. She'd checked, researched, and it definitely wasn't platinum, although it was sometimes called that. No; what was generally better accepted was peroxide.

Eventually he seemed to remember she was there and turned back to face her, leaning back against the mantelpiece. He wasn't flushed but he was clearly startled by it. His gaze rested on her again.

"Sorry about barging in." he said calmly but his face was screwed up in slight confusion. "The back door was open."

She closed her mouth and nodded, she hadn't locked it yet. After all her grandparents hadn't been gone long she didn't need to lock it yet.

"But…" she paused, thinking very carefully, "the back gate was locked. And the garage."

He stopped leaning on the mantelpiece, probably worried that she might scream and he'd have to stop her again, but he didn't come any closer; he just froze.

In the silence between them the CD was still playing. In what had happened she'd forgotten that the CD was on. Listening she heard the words to her personal favourite song:

_That's great_

_But I don't wanna play_

_Cus being with you touches me_

_More than I can say_

Rest in Peace as sung by James Marsters.

He glared at her with an anger burning in his eyes that she'd never seen before. So intense it was that she automatically took a step back.

"Where'd you get this?" he demanded. His voice wasn't raised or angry but there was something in his voice which pointed out the fact that he wasn't happy.

Her mouth opened and closed several times as she stumbled over words to answer. How could she explain to him? She couldn't even explain his existence to herself.

He strode forward and stopped when his face was barely inches away from hers. She glanced up at him, he was maybe an inch and a half/two inches taller than her and his eyes glowered back at her.

"Where'd you get it?" he demanded again, this time with more of a growl to his voice. He grabbed her by her arms and held her firmly in place so that she couldn't run or turn away from him. "Don't lie."

"Th-th-the shop." She stuttered. His gaze didn't change; his face did.

His brow furrowed, his face scrunched up and his eyes went a maddened yellow. In spite of the severity of the situation, she couldn't help looking at his face in awe. This was really happening! But it couldn't be. But it was!

His vamp-face fully formed, he shook his head in disappointment.

"I said don't lie." The disappointment showed in his voice as well.

He leaned in to her neck, his teeth bared and as he got closer, she could feel his hot breath brushing her flesh.

'Come on.' She thought. 'Any minute now.'

Just as she'd hoped (not knew but hoped) he pulled sharply back, cradling his head and crying out in pain. In grabbing his head he'd let go of her arms and for a while she stood trying to rub the life back into them. Meanwhile on the floor, he had taken a few steps back and then fallen to his knees.

As the pain stopped, his hands fell to his side and he looked up at her. She was wearing a shocked look and had jumped back on to the sofa as he had fallen forward. Seeing that he was no longer in pain, she cautiously stepped down onto the floor again.

"Why don't we start at the beginning?" she suggested. She didn't sound angry or patronising. If anything she sounded slightly scared, her voice shaking slightly, but above all she sounded curious.

She held out a hand to help him up and he just looked at it. Glancing back up at her he saw she _was_ curious. It was written all over her face. By the look of it she wanted to know just about as much as he did. Perhaps they could give each other the information they wanted. He reached out and took her hand, pulling himself to a standing position.

She let go of his hand and folded her arms. "I'm Elizabeth." She said. He nodded at Elizabeth.

"I'm Spike." Surprisingly she nodded back.

"I know."


	2. Back to School

**Disclaimer: **Don't own characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer or any other shows mentioned throughout this fic.

**Author's notes: **Really would appreciate any reviews so I can know how I'm doing.

**Chapter Two: Back To School**

Spike shifted about again. It was difficult to get comfy when every time he moved he saw his reflection mirror him just to his right. This was wrong. He's a vampire, he shouldn't have a reflection. He'd first noticed down in the living room. When he'd put his hand to his face he'd seen something move opposite him and looking up he had seen…well, he'd seen himself; for the first time in years. He didn't know where in the world he was but he'd known he wasn't in Sunnydale the instant he had been able to move.

He grimaced remembering the excruciating pain he'd felt when he'd arrived. It had been like his chest was being ripped open by red hot pokers and had lasted for days. Luckily he'd found somewhere dark and lonely where he could stay through the pain without being come across by anyone. The pain had only stopped this morning and he'd stayed where he was until dark not wishing to burn up in the sun.

Glancing round the room, he asked himself for the thousandth time why he'd picked this house. He'd seen the house from over the road and, finding the back gate was locked, had leapt over the fence into a beautiful little garden to find that the back door was open. Getting through the kitchenette had been simple enough and the dining room was quiet but there was music coming from the next room. Walking through he'd noticed there was a girl in the middle of the room dancing round like a lunatic; no, not a lunatic; like someone who had no worries. Silently he'd crept past her and, thankfully, she didn't notice as he stood by the bottom of the stairs.

His eyes flicked to the figure asleep in the bed and he wondered who she was. Yes, he knew her name but beyond that he knew nothing else. After they'd introduced themselves they'd sat in a stony silence. While she'd smiled and looked very carefree while she was dancing, now that she was sat down she simply stared ahead chewing on her nails and, every once in a while, glanced at him. The girl who'd been sitting before him couldn't have looked more different to the one he'd watched minutes ago (or was it hours). Once Elizabeth's grandparents had pulled up onto the driveway, she'd shoved him up the stairs and pushed him though the door exactly opposite the top of them, slamming the door behind him.

Voices had exchanged words downstairs but the details were muffled by the door and floor. Patiently he'd waited until, probably twenty minutes later, Elizabeth entered dressed in red pyjamas. He'd stepped back as the door swung in and she turned and closed it. It was then that he'd looked round the room he was in for the first time.

Scanning the room before him again, he recalled how everything he'd seen had shocked him. Right now, he was sat on the floor leaning against a large chest of drawers which had a large 6ft wardrobe separating it from the corner opposite the door which was to his left. On the wall beside it hung the mirror which was reflecting him. It started about two feet off the floor, rising up about three and a half feet above that. Against the wall next to the door stood a small chest of drawers and a large bookcase, separated by a large computer desk covered in papers and CDs. In short, the desk was a mess. Opposite him, the curtains were now drawn across the only window which almost went along the entire wall. Beneath the window were two more sets of drawers (how many did this girl need?) and just to the right of that was the bed. That's where Elizabeth was, tossing restlessly. He didn't blame her; he had tried to bite her after all.

When she'd come in wearing her pyjamas and he'd seen the room, he'd turned to her.

"You're hiding me in your bedroom?" he'd asked.

"It's my sister's actually." She'd spat at him. Was this really the carefree dancing girl he'd walked in on? "My room's at the front of the house." She'd indicated the window which wasn't covered by the curtains at the time. Walking over to the window he'd peered out and seen the pretty back garden he'd jumped into. "I'm only staying in here tonight because we can't risk my grandparents walking in here and finding you."

"Why can't I just leave?" he'd turned back.

"Hello?" she'd walked over to him and tapped him on the side of his head.

"Ow!" then she'd continued on to close the curtains.

"Were you not just listening? We can't risk my grandparents seeing you." she'd gone over to the bed and flopped onto it. "Just get comfy."

Seeing that she didn't want to discuss the matter any further he'd settled back onto the chest of drawers to wait out the night. After a while Elizabeth had climbed under the covers and settled to sleep.

He didn't know how long he sat there but it seemed to last forever. Eventually though, he too settled into a restless sleep. His dreams were filled, as they so often were these days, with thoughts about Buffy. They weren't sexual which frustrated him. So many times Buffy had told him, 'In your dreams' but it seemed she was even less willing to love him there.

"Wake up!" hissed a voice. Then something hit him on the side of his face. It wasn't hard but it was enough to start bringing him round. Slowly he opened his eyes and was half-blinded by the sunlight coming in through the window.

Hang on, sunlight?

He jumped up and slammed into the chest of drawers making most of the handles jab into his back. Panicking he tried to get out of the way of the rays but couldn't as it was reaching all corners of the room and he ended up in the corner by the door writhing around.

As soon as he started moving, Elizabeth hopped off the bed where she'd been sitting. She ran over to him, grabbed his duster jacket and, with difficulty, hoisted him out of the foetal position he was curling up into. When he was stood up straight against the wall, she slapped him hard across the face.

"Ow!" Spike said rather loudly, automatically reaching up with his hand.

"Ssh." She hissed. "Stop moaning and look at your hands."

Reluctantly he removed his hand from his face and looked at it. It looked pinker than it normally did but rather pale as the grey sunlight played across it.

"What am I looking at?" he asked, still a bit angry about being slapped across the face.

"How about the fact that you're not smoking?"

He glanced down again. She was right, his hands weren't smoking or burning or on fire. In fact, thinking about it, he hadn't felt any pain at all since waking up, the panic as the sunlight had hit him was probably just instinct. Elizabeth let go of him and stood back.

Spike couldn't understand what was going on and as he tried to sort out his thoughts she began talking again.

"My Nan has just gone into the shower which gives you time to get outside." She opened the door and began to push him out of it. She seemed less stressed than last night but still quite tense. "I'll be out in ten minutes."

"What about your granddad?" Spike was reluctantly being pushed down the stairs.

"He's asleep and will be for hours yet."

"What time is it?" he still felt tired. How long had he been asleep? "Where are you going?"

"About quarter to seven and I'm going to school. And you're coming with me."

"Right." He said. Then he realised what she'd said. "Wait, what?" They were in the kitchen now and she picked up some keys from a key rack hanging on the wall. "Why am _I _coming with you?"

She unlocked the back door and led him out into the small garden. "Look I don't have time to explain right now. Just trust me, when I've explained you'll realise I did the best thing for you." She turned left, went up to the gate and unlocked it. She pushed him out. "Ten minutes." And the gate closed behind him.

Still confused, he just stood there for a couple of minutes. After a while he sat down on the very low wall and waited. Ten minutes passed and just as Elizabeth had said, she came out the gate.

"Love you too." She said over her shoulder to someone, most likely her Nan. She slammed the gate behind her and turned to him. "Come on." She said and started off in the other direction.

Obediently, Spike jumped up and followed her. He noticed that on her back she was carrying a large bag which was bulging.

"What you carrying in there?" he asked her. "A dead body?"

"Don't tempt me." Was her reply.

"What?"

"Do you have a pulse?" she asked a bit too innocently. In one of her hands she was carrying a worn plastic carrier bag. It had several rips in it but he couldn't make out what was inside.

Elizabeth led him across a couple of roads leading away from where he'd first arrived days ago. They walked in silence and, after passing through a small playground with a shiny roundabout and scuffed up swings and climbing frame, she led him through an overgrowing bush and they were stood on the side of the road.

"Into the bus shelter." She said to him, pointing across the road to the bus shelter. Once they were in there she reached into the plastic bag and pulled out some things. "Luckily my school's doing a musical and I convinced Nan we need these for it. Take your jacket off."

"What?"

"If you walk around in that people are most definitely gonna recognise you. Take it off."

"First of all you slap me, then you drag me outside and you're taking me to school. Now you want me to take off my favourite jacket." He scoffed. "I'm not doing it."

Elizabeth looked up at him. "Everything I've done has been for your benefit and survival. If my grandparents had even the slightest inkling that you were in the house, although they wouldn't recognise you they would have called the police and _you_ would have been arrested and then how on earth would you have got home then?"

"What the hell does that have to do with my jacket?"

"If you want to survive," Elizabeth looked ready to slap him again, "I suggest you stop being bloody awkward and take your jacket off."

"Do you even know what this coat means to me?" he snapped at her. Why wasn't she backing down? If he'd picked any other house, he wouldn't be having this argument with her.

"Yeah." She said throwing a jacket she'd taken from the bag and threw it at him. "You took it off some slayer that you killed. But I can promise you that that coat means a hell of a lot more to me than yours does to you, and the fact that I'm even _considering_ letting you wear it is incomprehensible."

He could tell he wasn't going to win this argument. He'd had many similar to this with Buffy and he'd never won, so he thought it best to comply with her orders. He slipped his jacket off and, folding it in half, he passed it over to her and picked up the jacket she'd thrown him. Slipping it on he noticed it was black corduroy which stopped just about his waist while the sleeves stopped just above his wrists. A perfect fit.

Carefully she placed his jacket into the carrier bag and pulled out a hat. It was beige with a pattern all over it that made it look almost like tartan while the style of it was typical of a 20s gangster show. It was most likely one of her grandfather's hats. She held it out to him and he looked at it before looking up at her.

"You have got to be kidding me."

"You can put it on yourself, or I can shove it on for you." Was all she said. It was clear that she was getting irritable so, extremely reluctantly, he reached out and took it. Placing it on his head he felt an utter fool and could almost hear Xander laughing at him, wherever that smarmy git was. She turned towards the road before turning to him.

"Here comes the bus." She said. Picking up the plastic bag, she went to the roadside and held out a hand to stop the bus. Feeling stupid, he followed her.

The doors to the bus swished open and they stepped up onto it. Unconsciously, Spike pulled the hat down over his forehead a bit more, embarrassed about the way he looked. He watched as Elizabeth pushed a card into the ticket machine and it spat out a ticket. Then she gave the bus driver some money and it spurted out another ticket which she ripped off and passed back to him. Then she walked on down the bus. The bus began moving before they were sat down and he nearly fell flat on his face as the floor moved beneath him. Luckily he grabbed one of the poles that ran the full height of bus and continued down.

She walked practically to the back of the bus, turning about two seats ahead of the back to the right. Moving next to the window she placed the overly heavy bag onto the seat beside her. He sat behind her spreading across the two seats and leaning against the window, all the while keeping an eye on the clouded up sky. He may not be burning yet but that didn't mean that if the clouds parted he would remain… healthy.

He opened his mouth to try and strike up a conversation but found she was half-turned round in her seat holding out something which was glinting in the half-light.

"This is for you." she said shaking it at him. "Only to borrow, mind you." She hastily added as he took it.

Turning it over in his hands, he tried not to let the admiration show on his face. It was a watch. One of amazing quality. It was silver and digital with a crystal covering over it. Three buttons on one side and two on the other, with many phrases written round the time which indicated that you could use it to time laps. A watch like this could fetch…well not thousands of pounds but still a fair amount.

"Nice." He said placing it around his wrist. It had a metal strap which clipped into place which meant it had only one size but, like the jacket, it was a perfect fit. As he clipped it into place, she nodded.

"If you lose it then I will have hit you over the head with a wooden chair and then stake you using one of the broken-off legs. Understood?"

Spike raised his hands to shoulder height before letting them drop again to show the he understood. He glanced at the watch and saw it was now quarter past seven.

"Did you nick this off your granddad, then?" he asked off-handedly.

"I didn't _nick it_ off anyone." She said. "It was my dad's. And the jacket. You seem to have the same proportions as him. Tall and gangly." He knew she was taking the piss but he didn't react as her mouth twisted into the closest thing to a smile he'd seen since he'd interrupted her spirited dancing.

"So what happened to him?" instantly the half-smile disappeared from her face. He breathed in through his teeth. He was going to have to tread carefully and that wasn't really a strong point of his. "Bad question?"

"Sensitive subject." She confirmed. He nodded, kind of obvious really. Buffy and Dawn reacted in similar ways on the rare occasions when someone mentioned Joyce.

"So what's the plan?" he asked, swiftly. "Drag me to school and show me off to your friends?" She rolled her eyes.

"Please." She said, the smile returning. "Normally I get the bus after this, but I need time to find somewhere to hide you, so you can go on sleeping without being found by anyone."

"Got anywhere in mind?"

"I can think of a couple of places." She nodded.

The rest of the journey passed in silence but the air wasn't so tense anymore and he got a feeling of ease from her instead of panic. Eventually she pressed a button which made the 'bus stopping' sign light up at the front of the bus. Before standing up, she reached over the back of her chair and pulled the hat down a little bit further over his forehead.

She led him off the bus and down roads for another ten minutes, still in silence.

"I'm hoping the front swooshy doors will be open at this time in the morning." She said as she walked

"Swooshy?"

"What's the word?" she paused in thought but didn't break in her pace. "Automatic."

"Swooshy?"

"Spike! Focus!" he laughed. "Anywho, point in hand. If we can't get in the front for sure, we'll need to get in another way."

"So what's the plan, Beebs?"

"We can go in through the bike entrance round the ba-" she suddenly stopped walking just before stepping into a road. A car whizzed past moments later. She turned and held up her hand out to stop Spike. "What did you just call me?"

"What?"

"Just now. Did you call me Beebs?"

"What?" he shrugged his shoulders. "Elizabeth is a bit of a mouthful each time I wanna talk to you."

"Beebs?" She turned and began walking again. "How the hell did you get Beebs from Elizabeth?"

"God! Do you always moan this much?" he rolled his eyes.

"I dunno. You'd have to ask Sarah." They passed through an underpass. "Not that you are gonna ask her."

"And why's that?"

"If there is anyone in this world who must not see or know anything about you being here it is Sarah." They were now walking uphill through a residential estate and as a result her pace slowed. "If she saw you then she would have a fit or pass out or God only knows. I promised I wouldn't do something like that to her again." She caught her foot and stumbled forward. Almost instantly Spike had her elbow and was helping her upright again. "Thanks. Besides if no one sees you then I can probably convince myself that you're just a figment of my imagination."

"You'd be so lucky. You don't have the brain capacity to imagine me up." Beebs turned to him but kept moving. He pulled back afraid she might slap him again.

"God! I had no idea you were so full of yourself! It's really rather irritating!" she screeched quietly.

"Well you're no garden of roses yourself." He spat back. "You wake me up stupidly early in order to take me to school like some bloody show and tell project!"

She stopped suddenly and grabbed the side of his jacket, pulling back hard. He turned to argue with her some more when a double-decker bus drove past where he was about to step into the road. Looking down the road, he saw it led to some shops.

"Spike!" he turned back to face her. "Down that road and round the corner is my school. In less than," she glanced at her own watch on her right wrist, "half an hour, just over 1000 people, students, teachers, invigilators, et cetera et cetera, will turn up. A large number of those, if not every single one of them, will be able to pick you out of a crowd and alert all sorts of people who should not be involved in this."

"And your point is?" Spike said off-handedly.

"If all the bad stuff which I just described happened then you'd never get back home. Ever!"

"That's not good." Spike realised.

"Of course not." Beebs checked up and down the street before crossing the road. "I mean having you being here forever would really be terrible."

"Oh really!" Spike exclaimed, following her. "Well, I don't like you either!"

"Car." Liz had stopped on the other pavement, turned and was currently pointing to Spike's right. Turning he saw a car coming towards him really fast and, while cursing under his breath, leaped to the pavement where Beebs stood. "This is generally a quiet road. Slow movers and buses are the norm, but every once in a while you'll get you boy racer who does…well that." She set off towards school again.

Spike glanced back at the road and thought about what would have happened. Normally nothing except a lot of pain would have happened but something about where he was and how he got there made him feel very uncertain whether he would have survived a collision. He turned to Beebs.

"I still don't like you!" he called. He didn't rush to catch up with her. She was infuriating and from experience he knew that infuriating people only became more so when you tried to converse with them in a civilised manner.

The 'swooshy' doors were open and they passed through unnoticed by the ever-watchful receptionists. The entrance inside was pretty impressive. To get into the main body of the school you had to pass under a huge balcony that went across the whole expanse of the entrance. They passed under this and continued through towards a large set of boards set up.

"This is called 'The Hexagon'." Beebs explained. "General meeting place of…well to be honest I don't know."

"So where do we go?" Beebs pointed to their left.

"That way." She led and he followed. This seemed to be becoming a habit and that was not good. He quickened his pace to catch up with her. "This bit is referred to as the Street." She continued. "It links all the different departments together. And is where the big and the small gather during breaks and lunch. So you better not come out here."

"It's a bit hot isn't it?" he said wiping his brow. He was sweating. He couldn't recall the last time that had happened.

"Yeah, well even when there's only a sliver of warmth in the air outside it gets magnified tenfold in here."

"Why?"

"Simple." She pointed straight up. "The roof shouldn't be on a school. It should be on a greenhouse." Glancing up he saw the roof was made of large bits of corrugated plastic. "Another reason to avoid the street."

"What the heat?"

"No." she shook her head. "You haven't burst into flames yet, not entirely sure why, probably to do with the fact that it's really overcast. Point is we don't know what direct sunlight will do. Especially through the greenhouse roof."

They passed a couple of benches and approached some doors set into a wall which seemed to hold up a structure which looked like the balcony if it was bricked up. There were windows to let in light so he figured they must be offices of some kind.

"This way." Beebs called pulling off to the left just beyond the doors. They passed through another pair of double doors and stopped just past them. There was door on the right of this small enclosed passageway, just one, not double thank God.

Beebs pressed her face up to the window on the door and pulling back she sighed and shook her head.

"Too much glass. You'll be seen." She said. Spike walked over and peered in. It was pretty light inside, that was because the opposite wall was made of glass and looked into a room with several big blue chairs and a large television hanging off the wall.

"That's tiny!" he cried. "You were planning on shoving me in there?"

"It was a long shot, alright?" she snapped back. She glanced at her watch again. "We're running out of time."

"I mean, look at it!" Spike continued. "I wouldn't keep a hamster in there! It's tiny!"

"The Balcony!" Beebs clicked her fingers as realisation appeared on her face.

"Hello? Anyone there?" Spike rapped on her head. "I think I might be a bit visible there. Being near the entrance and all." Beebs brushed him off quickly.

"Not that balcony." She said. "Come on." She grabbed his jacket and dragged him down the corridor before turning left at the bottom.

"Ow!" Spike groaned pulling his arm free. "Where are we going?"

"Are you paying me any attention?" She was striding very fast now, passing by classrooms and more double doors. How many did this school need? "_The_ Balcony."

"And that makes all the difference in the world, does it?"

"The Balcony isn't a balcony. It's a room called the Balcony. Kinda small but roomier than the interview room." They pushed through another pair of double doors.

"Hang on." Said Spike stopping just after passing through them. He looked up and down the large hallway they were in now. "This is the entrance. We've bloody well gone in a circle."

"Well done." Beebs had rushed across through another pair of double doors. "Now come on!"

They rushed up some stairs behind the doors to the left into some official looking corridors. Twisting and turning, Spike began to wonder if he'd ever find his way out of here. Eventually they come to a stop in front of a door and Beebs pulled it open and walked in so he followed.

"Welcome to the Balcony." She said. She dropped the plastic bag with his jacket in on the floor by one of the walls. Opposite the door they'd come in was a wall with another door. The walls on the sides had windows half way up and all the way along. "No natural sunlight, so no risk of burning up. No one comes up here really. The only time I've known it to be used is for the musical auditions." Spike walked over to one side and looked through the window. "That's the main gym hall. But it's like really far down so no one will see you. Well, unless they can fly." She laughed. "Anyway this bit links the school and the leisure centre next door… at least I think so. But the point is no one will find you."

"So now you've found somewhere to keep me," Spike said, "what are you going to do?"

"Well, I'm off to meet up with friends. Then off to lesson but I'll be back at about 9:30."

"Cheery." She heard the spite in his voice.

"I'm a creature of habit, Spike. If I don't turn up then they will suspect something is going on. So I've gotta go."

"Well don't let me stop you." Spike said, turning to face her. She was gone. "Brilliant." He muttered to himself. He took off the jacket she'd given him and laid it gently on the floor. The hat he held less respect for, flicking it off his head and letting it roll away. He sat down next to the bag holding his jacket, leaning against the wall and glanced at the watch on his wrist. Maybe he'd keep that on a while. It was a nice watch after all.

Breathing in, he let the air out in a long sigh. His body was aching and sore. It seemed all movement made the some muscle twinge like his whole body had done over the last three days. He shuddered at the thought of it.

'I've never been this tired before.' he thought as he closed his eyes. 'Still at least I've got some peace now." Shortly after he fell asleep.

_Next: What is Normal?_


	3. What is Normal?

**Disclaimer:** Don't own characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer or any other shows mentioned throughout this fic.

**Author's notes: **Third chapter. Reviews appreciated

**Chapter 3: What is Normal?**

"What are you doing, Liz?" Insha asked.

"Getting my facts straight."

"About what?" she tried to glance at the computer that Elizabeth sat in front of.

"Insha!" Liz said. Quickly she minimised the internet explorer window she was using. "I don't try and find out what you're doing all the time."

"I s'pose." Insha shrugged and sat back into her seat again. "Where's Sarah?"

"Dunno." Liz replied opening the window again and turning back to continue reading. "Probably not here yet. Unless she's decided to go and hide in the ILC again."

"I might go join her." Insha stood up and walked to the door. "You coming?"

"You know I hate the ILC." Liz replied so Insha left.

The ILC, or the Independent Learning Centre, was the school's Library. Filled with books, computers and a general feeling of unease which meant that the sixth formers tended to use the computer room which was just for them. It was better for several reasons. There was no teacher standing over you so you didn't feel under pressure to work overly hard. Also it was large and more sociable than even the common room. Most of all it was a place that belonged to the sixth form; no younger children, no adults just your peers and computers to use for looking up just about anything. That's why Liz was there now.

She glanced at her wrist and saw it was now 8:00. She slumped over onto the keyboard. She was exhausted and tired and frustrated and excited all at once. All this just because of one vampire who shouldn't exist. That's why she was here. She was looking for a comprehensible way to explain a possible explanation as to why he was here and how to possibly get him home. Almost an hour of searching and still she'd got nowhere. Nothing seemed to make sense.

Luckily she'd got him to school unnoticed but this was no thanks to Spike himself. Still no one would find him in the Balcony and if someone did he could not be linked to her in anyway. Unless he told them, which he probably would do. Awkward bloody vampire.

She sat up and noticed a promising link on her google search. Clicking on it she realised this was what she needed. That was it! But it could be better explained where Spike's concerned…Liz got out her phone and punched in a number.

"Hey Yasmin." She said once the other end was picked up. "Could you do something for me?"

About thirty minutes later Liz was walking into the French classroom, only just making it before the second bell. Quickly she settled into her usual seat and tried hard to follow the lesson.

Her interest had been sparked by her teacher at her last school. He was energetic and enthusiastic; always trying to get his students talking in French and never taking no for an answer. When she'd been in his classes she'd thought he was a madman, convinced she'd fail because she'd get sidetracked by his pointless songs and pitiful impressions. She'd walked out of the GCSE exams convinced she'd got an alright-but-most-definitely-could-be-better grade and looking forward to leaving it behind her. Imagine her shock when, on results day, she found she'd got an A. Looking back maybe those songs hadn't been pointless and the impressions…well they were still pitiful, except maybe his Gollum one, but obviously they'd managed to stick.

But she wasn't at that school anymore; technically, neither was he. Her French teacher was really old and had even taught her fifty year old uncle when he'd been at school. Everyone, even the teachers, were running bets on how old he was and when the time had come to move from year 11 to year 12 for Elizabeth, the school had decided the best teacher the school had was probably past retiring age and needed to be let go. He's still there teaching one a level class of five pupils but come July he was being let go permanently.

Compared to GCSE, French was boring now. The teacher was always over-zealous; always trying to instil a sense of excitement and always failing to do so. Every so often something would click and Elizabeth would understand something new and interesting in the French language but honestly most of the time it was going over the same thing for weeks on end.

Casting a look around the class she saw Sarah sitting in her usual seat on the other side of the classroom. Her eyes seemed dead as she stared at the board and listened to the teacher telling them again that gender was important but not as important as some other aspect of grammar. Liz gave up listening and settled in to clock watching.

The minutes of the lesson seemed to drag endlessly on and Liz was beginning to wonder whether time was really moving on at all. But eventually the bell rang and before anyone could move, she'd packed up her things and left.

In about half a minute she was at her locker and being approached by a girl with short brown hair that perfectly framed her face. In her hands the girl carried a silver rectangular object that resembled a laptop and taking it, Liz embraced the girl.

Liz pulled back out of the hug. It had been stronger than her normal hugs but that was mainly because it wasn't a hug attack and was actually welcomed by the recipient.

"Thanks, Yaz." She said with a smile. "You've no idea how important this is right now."

"Oh I think I have some sort of idea." Yasmin laughed. Her head shook causing her short blond hair to bounce round her shoulders.

"Trust me, Yaz." Liz laughed. "You really have NO idea."

"Then I don't think I want to know. Oh and if you see Aimee tell her I need to see her. See ya!" She waved as Liz began to move towards the doors out of the sixth form café come dining area.

"Partner in crime! Got it!" she called behind her. Hopefully she wouldn't bump into Aimee on her way to the Balcony. If she did, she just knew she would stop and talk to Aimee. Distractions were not useful. Not when she was starting to doubt that the thing she'd snuck into school was real.

Talking to said thing, a vampire named Spike, would require delicate handling. Mainly because he'd tried to bite her the night before when Rest in Peace had played on the sound system. That's why she'd called Yasmin and asked her to bring in this. Thankfully Yaz was awake and more than able to bring in what Liz had requested.

She turned off the Street heading towards the door behind which a vampire, hopefully, slept. God! How many people would think she was mad if she said that out loud?

As she approached the door she listened carefully for any sign of noise from within. Nothing. She pushed open the door and saw him stretched out along the wall to her left. Her dad's jacket was laid on the floor over from him and the hat was lying upside down on the far side of the room.

Quietly she closed the door behind her and crept in. She went over to the wall by her dad's jacket and set up what she'd brought with her. When she was ready she glanced over at him as he shifted in his sleep. He looked so peaceful; it would be a shame to have to wake him.

Liz thought about shouting at him but worried she might be heard by passing teachers so she walked over to where he was laid and gently shook his shoulder.

"Spike!" she said. "Wake up!"

The vampire shifted around again but still didn't wake.

"Wake up, you lazy bloody vampire!" she hissed irritably, shaking him harder. "Or so help I WILL smack you again!" Still he didn't wake and thinking about it she remembered how she'd had to throw a soft toy at him after opening the curtains and showering him in sunlight before he'd woken up before.

Rolling her eyes she walked back to where she'd been before and slipped off her trainer.

"Sorry, Spike." She said, almost sounding disappointed "You've forced my hand." Carefully the girl aimed and threw the shoe at him. It flew at his lifeless figure, hitting him hard on the shoulder and causing him to wake with a start. He sat up quickly and looked around him, as though unsure of where he was before turning and settling against the wall as he remembered.

"Ow!" Spike said simply, to rubbing his shoulder where the shoe had hit him. "What is it with you and throwing things at me?"

"Ssh!" she hushed him. "It isn't as easy to wake the dead as you might think. I tried just shaking you but you were…well…dead to the world."

"Very funny." He said. He glanced at the watch which he was still wearing. "Why are you here?"

"I have answers." Liz said kneeling down and indicated what she'd set up. "Well, more or less."

"What's that?"

Liz pushed a button and the screen of the portable DVD player sprang into life.

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer." She said. "One of the most iconic sci-fi shows ever. A show where the blonde girl fought back against the things that went bump in the night. Where all sorts of ooglie-booglies stalk the shadows and those who cross the slayer get their butts severely whooped."

Spike stared at the screen. Liz paused worried he might get bitey again like the night before when he'd heard his song on the sound system. She tried to figure out his expression and it was either fear, horror or anger. Spike didn't make a sound and so she continued.

"This particular episode is called Tabula Rasa. And although I don't know where exactly along the timeline you've come from, if you haven't been a part of this already you won't remember when it happens as the main plot point is that everyone forgets everything." She paused and glanced down at the DVD player. "Well everything except how to talk and read it would seem. I always find that odd. It's a common thing with amnesia."

"This has already happened." Spike said quietly. Liz looked up and saw he had moved over to the wall and his face was now set as though he could barely bear to watch but he was staring, transfixed, at the screen.

"But it doesn't end here." Liz continued. "Buffy spawned a five series spin-off. It's amazing and inspires so many people." She looked again at Spike and saw he wasn't comfortable at all. "Look," she carefully closed the portable DVD player and shifted off of her knees onto the side of her legs, "I'm sorry I have to tell you this. I understand this must be…confusing and difficult." She stopped when she saw Spike shaking his head. She sighed deeply and pushed the DVD player to the side of the room. "Okay, maybe I don't understand."

"No, you don't." he said. "And 'sorry'?" He stood up and stared down at Liz. She cowered beneath his angry gaze. "You're loving this."

"Excuse me?" how could he possibly think she was loving having a homicidal maniac under her charge?

'Welcome to my world.' She could imagine Sarah saying.

"I'm trying to help you."

"And I can't help but wonder why that is?" Spike moved towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Liz stood up.

"Out."

"But if you go out there someone will recognise you."

"Better than being stuck in here like some pet!" There's only so much one person can take.

"You think I like this?" Liz yelled at him. "You think I like having my life thrown suddenly upside down like this? You think I like having to get up _super_ early so you don't get caught and locked away so you never see the light of day again?"

"You can put forward any case you like. You and I both know that you are loving this situation." Liz rolled her eyes and took a step towards him.

"I'll admit it; I'm interested." She said. "Your existence opens up so much for me. If you exist elsewhere, then so may so many other things that people don't believe in. But if you think I'm doing this 'cus I'm some…crazed psycho collector than walk out that door. See if I care."

"I told you."

"God!" she screeched. "You really are _so_ full of yourself! I finally get why so many people don't like Spike! Because you're conceited," she took a step forward, "vain and convinced that the entire world revolves around you! Well I got a newsflash for you, prat! It doesn't! There are other people in the world and sometimes things happen that are bigger than you!"

"Oh really? Well _you _are an infuriating little tart!"

"Who are you calling a tart?"

"And like you know anything about anything!" Spike looked her up and down. "I mean how old are you? Five?"

"Ah!"

"And every single time I've woken up today you're there. What's the matter? Not got any real friends to hang with and reduced to hanging with an old dead guy?"

Liz stood there in silence. The shouting at him had done nothing to shut him up and now he was hurling abuse at her.

"Fine." She said quietly. "You know I was just trying to help out a guy who turned up in my living room. That's all."

"Oh don't start with you're just a good person." Spike walked up to her and stared down at her. "Everyone's always just looking out for themselves."

"And does that include Buffy?"

It happened so quickly.

The vampire grabbed her shoulder and twisted his arm so that she flew into the wall behind him with a smash and crunch.

In an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer the wall might have crumbled and fallen away. Unfortunately this wasn't an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. As a result, when Liz hit the wall she felt several bones cracking, and might even possibly breaking, in her back before he head went back and smashed into the wall as well.

She fell to the floor, dazed and disorientated and just lay there, her head throbbing along with the many cuts that had opened on her back. Completely unaware of what was actually happening only one coherent thought managed to pass through her head.

'I hope that bastard gets one hell of a migraine.'

_Next: Rumbled_


	4. Rumbled

**Disclaimer: **Don't own characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer or any other shows mentioned throughout this fic.

**Author's notes: **I decided to cut this chapter shorter than originally planned so as to keep the quality steady. Would like to thank Burrett-face for her help in writing this chapter. I couldn't have done it without her.

**Chapter Four: Rumbled**

Something was puzzling Sarah. Every Thursday she and Liz would have a free period between their French lesson first thing and break, so they'd hang out together and, more often than not, do the maths homework due in for that day. But the second the bell went for the end of lesson Liz had zoomed off without so much as a 'hiya'. That was just rude, after all, how many times had she complained to Sarah about being left behind while she rushed off to reach her lessons on time or even go to her locker to pick up maths work. Sometimes Liz infuriated her so much it was unbelievable.

Luckily she caught up with her at her locker when she stopped to talk to Yasmin, but even though she called out, Liz didn't respond. After calling another three or four times, she began to understand why Liz always whistled at her instead of calling her name. She tried to whistle as she knew this would get the annoying girl to stop but there was one problem. Sarah couldn't whistle. Before she knew it, Liz was gone. What was it Liz had once said when Sarah had unintentionally ditched her?

'I tried to call but you were lost in the sea of little people, well medium sized people (so what if I'm small), swept away beyond the reach of my sonic whistle, which you don't always hear anyway. Sometimes I believe you want to be rid of me. Not that I blame you."

Sarah smiled thinking of Liz saying it in that stupid voice she always used when 'putting on a show'. Liz's words not hers.

She probably had work to do, that's why she rushed off. Yeah, urgent work with the giant need of being finished. Still there was no need to ditch her like that.

Reluctantly she sat down in the sixth form café area which was a set of tables, chairs and a coffee machine. It was empty except for Sarah because everyone else had a lesson or was in the computer room.

Liz would pay for this.

She gave up on the homework after twenty minutes. The questions weren't too difficult but she couldn't focus. She kept getting distracted by the absence of Liz. When the bell went for break Sarah met up with Amy, Insha and Amber. None of them had seen Liz either, Amy mainly because she'd only turned up two minutes ago.

The end of break came and Sarah had to go to General Studies but she popped into the Extended Project lesson Liz would normally be in but she hadn't turned up.

When she sat down in General Studies she decided that Liz was a big girl and more than able to take care of herself. There was no need to worry about her. Of course when she next saw Liz she realised that maybe there wasn't that much truth in that fact.

Sarah met up with her on the way to maths. Their classroom was in a small building known as the SF building due to there being three SF, or Sixth Form, rooms inside. To get there you had to go halfway round the outside of the school since they had locked the quick way through the languages department so only teachers could go through. As she was walking around the main school building Sarah noticed Liz about twenty metres ahead.

"Hey!" Sarah yelled. Liz stopped and turned but not all the way. "Where the hell have you been?"

"Busy." Liz croaked.

"Busy doing what?" As Sarah got closer she noticed that Liz didn't have her bag with her and instead was carrying her books and folder at her side. "Where's your bag?"

"Busy doing stuff! And my bag's in my locker!"

"But it won't fit in your locker." It was true. Liz's locker was often filled with papers from lessons or food from then shop over the road. It was slightly larger than some of the other lockers but still wasn't large enough to fit her large bag.

"Geez, Sarah! What's with all the questions?" she snapped.

They walked the rest of the way to lesson in silence. Every so often Liz would wince at something and she looked really pissed off. Sarah wasn't saying anything because it took a lot to piss her off and when she _was_ pissed off it took a lot to cheer her up. Anything she did say may set Liz off so Sarah had made the wise decision of saying nothing.

Sat in the classroom, Sarah thought that maybe telling a joke that Liz normally said in some maths lessons might lift the mood. For some reason just mentioning the name of the dog whisperer, Cesar Millan, made Liz roll all over the place and when Liz said it even Sarah laughed. Another one they had was about this guy who sat on the other side of the classroom to them who's last name was Keen and for a reason that escaped Sarah, Liz had dubbed him the King of Keen. It was pointless and stupid but never failed to make Liz laugh. However when she turned to mention the King of Keen, Liz was slumped over the desk.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine." Liz groaned, not moving. "I'm just, you know, soooo bored."

There were three reasons Sarah knew that Liz was lying. One. Her voice was cracking as she was said 'soooo' and her voice never cracked when things were fine. Two. Liz's shirt was covered in red blotches and Liz is in no way arty. Three. Liz had avoided moving while talking whereas normally she was normally over-expressive; to a strikingly severe degree.

"You are not fine."

"I am too!" Liz snapped, still not moving. "Now can you shut up please!"

"Liz, are you tired or something?" came the voice of the teacher. "Sit up."

With a groan (and was that a sob?), Liz sat up and leant against her hand instead. Sarah decided to leave it.

After about twenty minutes the teacher left the classroom and, as could be expected in any classroom, it erupted into chaos. What with Liz and Sarah being the only girls in their class, it was pointless trying to work while the boys were yelling about anything and everything. In these particular lessons the subject of discussion usually fell to Ollie's chances with the teacher who was the object of many a boy student's affections. Just so you know everyone except Ollie was convinced it was zero. Sarah ignored it and turned to talk to Liz but she was slumped over the desk again.

It was another ten minutes before the teacher returned looking slightly puzzled.

"What was that about, Miss?" Ollie asked, trying to distract her from the fact that no one had done any work while she was gone.

She walked up to her desk and sat down. Peering out the windows by the board she said, "Nothing."

"Ah, come on Miss."

"Nothing that concerns you, Ollie." She sat down and shuffled her papers. "Seeing how there's only five minutes left you can go."

The sound of scraping chairs filled the room as all the boys made to leave.

"AFTER!" The teacher yelled. "After you've given me the homework for today and collected next week's homework." The whole room filled with groans and there was a lot of shuffling with bags as they lined up to hand in the homework. Sarah handed in hers, unfinished, and waited for Liz. All the guys had gone and Liz hadn't even moved.

"Liz?"

"Yeah give me a minute."

"You know it's weird." Said the teacher. Often after the guys had gone Sarah would have to wait while Liz was talking with the teacher. It was no big deal as she didn't have to get to tutorial but Liz did. Still, her problem; not Sarah's. "I could have sworn I saw someone out there." She indicated the window. Liz looked up.

"Is that where you went?"

"Yeah. But when I got out there I didn't see anyone."

"It's probably just some younger kids messing about." Suggested Sarah.

"If only." Liz muttered. She packed up her stuff, passed by the teacher's desk, dropped off the old and picked up the new homework in one swift movement and was out the door. Sarah followed but was surprised when instead of heading back to school she turned left and headed to the back of the building.

"Liz?" Sarah stood by the doors of the SF building and watched as Liz turned round the corner. "Liz!"

After two minutes she still hadn't come back. Sarah sighed and started off towards the back.

"Are you crazy?" she heard Liz say. "You're trying to get caught aren't you?" Sarah peered round the corner and saw who it was Liz was talking to. He was stood about three metres away from Liz; he was tall and his face seemed very familiar.

"I don't get what the problem is." She heard the guy say. The voice sounded very familiar and she was sure she'd definitely heard it before but she just couldn't pinpoint it. "I'm wearing the jacket you gave me. And the hat." He pointed at the hat with both hands. "Can I take it off now?"

"I never said you had to wear it here." The stranger took off the hat.

"Oh my God!" Sarah gasped, stepping out from where she'd been hiding as she realised who it was. The thing is he heard her and his attention instantly snapped to her hiding place. Something about the way he looked told Sarah that he didn't expect there to be spectators.

Crap.

_Next: The Doorway_


	5. The Doorway

**Disclaimer: **Don't own characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer or any other shows mentioned throughout this fic.

**Author's notes: **This chapter went quicker than I thought but I'm afraid the next one will take a while. Thanks to everyone for reading and thanks again to Burrett-face for helping with writing again. Please read and review. Enjoy.

**Chapter Five: The Doorway**

Liz looked at Spike and wondered what was going through his head as he pushed her aside and grabbed someone who was stood behind her. Hitting the ground her back burst into pain again and she just lay there while Spike slammed the person against the back wall.

"Spike!" she groaned. "What the hell?"

"We've been found." He replied. She shifted up onto her elbow and held her chest as it tightened slightly.

"Ow." Liz said. "Ow. Ow. Ow."

"Beebs!" Spike called over his shoulder. "Slightly more pressing matters at hand."

"Ow!" she spat at him standing herself up. Noticing who he was holding against the wall and the look on that person's face she threw a rock she'd picked off the ground at him. "Spike! What the hell are you doing?"

"We've been found!" he repeated ignoring the pain in his arm where the stone had hit him. "You're the one who said there'd be trouble if I was seen. I've been seen and I'm dealing with it."

"You idiotic corpse!" she screeched. "That's Sarah!"

He turned to Liz with a confused look on his face.

"Sarah?"

"Yes!" he turned to the girl he had pinned against the wall.

"You're Sarah?" Sarah nodded, seemingly unable to talk. He looked Sarah up and down. "You seem kind of mousy. Shorter than I expected too."

"That's Sarah!" Liz said again. "The one person we can trust with your existence, and you are choking her!"

"Right." Spike backed away from her and as he did Sarah grabbed her throat and began to rub it. "You're Sarah."

"And you're not hardly helpful, Spike!" Liz snapped, as she walked over to Sarah. "What are you doing here? I thought you were getting away from here and the lifestyle of a pet."

"Well," Spike shifted about, "I found something. Come over here and take a look." Liz didn't move.

"As I recall, the last time I approached you, you threw me at a wall do so you'll forgive me if I seem hesitant."

"You're not the only one who suffered, you know." Spike said.

"You're right, Spike." Liz said sarcastically. "Knowing that you got a slightly larger than average migraine for throwing me against a wall makes me feel so much better."

"He knows who I am?" Sarah said quietly, momentarily gaining Liz's attention.

"Later." She turned back to find Spike was stood right in front of her. He pointed at her.

"You are impossible." He said. Liz hoped he would move because his being so close to her face was very unnerving.

"Well can you blame me?" She saw his brow furrow as, she assumed, he thought about it. Slowly he drew back and looked away from her.

"I guess not." he mumbled. Liz swallowed as the conversation threatened to descend into an awkward silence. Like most of the conversations she'd had with Spike. Odd.

"What have you found?" she asked.

"No." Spike waved it off. He stooped down and picked up a couple of stones. Straightening up he turned them over in his hands. "You don't need to humour me."

"Oh yes I do." He looked up as she took a step closer. "I am not leaving you on your own and I simply can't stand silences." He raised an eyebrow. "No really. I'd rather hear what you want to say than stand here in silence." He just gazed at her blankly, his eyebrow still raised.

"Believe me," Liz heard Sarah say behind her, "when she says things like this just go with it. It makes everything so much easier."

"The mouse is right."

"Hey." Sarah squeaked before Liz shushed her.

"So, what have you found Spike?"

"Well, I'm not exactly sure." He pointed at the wall. It was one of the walls of the classroom they'd just had a lesson in. "Watch this."

The vampire picked one of the stones and threw it at the wall. Instead of ricocheting back off the wall and tumbling to the floor as you might expect it to, it passed through. As it hit the wall, a shimmering blue film appeared on it that was two metres tall and 3 metres wide, reaching between the two small windows set in the wall. Ripples blossomed out from where it had passed through and spread out across the entire thing.

"Oh my God!" She walked over and stood next to Spike and Sarah slowly followed her, making sure she wasn't too close to Spike.

"I know." Spike said. Out the corner of her eye, Liz saw him smiling slightly.

"What was that?" asked Sarah.

"I'm not sure." Spike said. Liz walked up to it and looked at the wall. She couldn't see anything now. Nothing at all was visible on the wall and it was if nothing had been there. "But I know it's not natural." Liz reached out with her hand and brushed her fingers against it. They passed straight through but to her it appeared as though they were cut off. Ripples floated out as the blue wall appeared again. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Spike called. "From my experience with the unknown, I know that doing that is very dangerous

"How'd you find it?" she called back, pulling back her fingers.

"Well, um…I was walking about…and I sorta just found it." Liz turned round. His voice was shaky.

"You're lying aren't you?" she said. Spike wasn't looking at her and she decided not to press the matter. For one thing she was beginning to develop a headache and for another she had missed tutorial and had no idea of the time, being too lazy to check her watch. "Never mind." She sighed and started to walk off towards the main school building.

"Where are you going?" Sarah called, sounding shocked at her sudden leaving.

"Well," Liz began as she turned round, "as entrancing as the pretty blue wall is, it's lunch, I'm hungry and I know we have a free lesson next and all that but everyone else will be wondering where I am after my numerous disappearing acts today." She glanced at Spike but continued talking to Sarah. "Are you coming?" and with that she walked off.

"But what about this?" Spike yelled; she could hear she had pissed him off.

Tempted as she was to turn and yell how it wasn't her problem, she kept walking and after a few minutes heard footsteps running to catch up.

"That was Spike." Said Sarah as she caught up with Liz.

"Yep."

"Spike."

"Yes."

"The vampire."

"Spot on."

"William the mighty."

"Bloody."

"What?"

"William the Bloody. Not mighty."

"But he's real." They passed through the double doors into the main school building.

"Real as you or me." Liz struggled to suppress the smile threatening to creep against her mouth. In all the possible reactions Liz had thought of, never had she thought that this would be what happened. "Come on. Let's go to the computer room."

It was a short journey and they sat against the wall opposite the door.

"Let me explain." And that's what Liz did. She explained how Spike had turned up in her living room and how she'd snuck him here.

"So there is something wrong with you." Sarah gasped once she'd explained about her incident with the wall.

"No sweat." Liz waved it away. "I can more than handle him."

"But what about everyone else?" Sarah stood up in a frenzy.

"They'll think we've been talking about a TV show. No worries." Liz stood up as well.

"Not that, stupid." Sarah hit her on the arm. "There's a real vampire out there. What's to stop him biting people?"

"First of all. OW!" she tried to rub some life back into her arm. Sarah never believed how hard she could hit. "Second of all he's got a chip in his head that sends an electric pulse or something through his head if he so much as flicks a person. He's not gonna go all bitey on anyone here."

"Well that's a relief."

"Not really."

"Huh?"

"I can think of a couple of people I wouldn't mind getting nipped." Liz said and looked at Sarah knowingly who nodded in agreement. "Follow me." She left the computer and walked down the Humanities corridor leading to the front of the school.

"Where are we going?" Sarah said following her.

"I said I was hungry." Liz stood back to let a couple of teachers pass through a set of doors. "Have you seen me eat yet? No. I'm getting food." she passed through the set of doors. "Do you realise how many sets of double doors there are in this school?"

"Spike the vampire is walking around **our **school and you're getting food?"

"Chips. If you wanna be precise." She laughed. "That's kinda ironic."

"Chips? CHIPS?" Liz led the way out of the small side door that operated during the day to stop non-sixth-form students from leaving. They crossed the road with Sarah saying 'oh' or 'but' or 'chips' every twenty seconds before Liz stopped and turned on her friend.

"Listen," she said in an oh-so-serious tone, "he may have half-strangled you to death but I have watched many more episodes of Buffy than you. True, I haven't seen most of them in over seven years but I have at least one whole series committed to memory and I am saving up to money to make it more. I have watched every episode I own over twelve times, not including all the director's commentaries. I have also spent a day hiding Spike and tending to wounds inflicted by him. So do you know what that means?"

Sarah looked shocked and only found the ability to shake her head.

"It means that, like it or not, I'm getting chips." She turned and continued towards the chip shop.

Sarah didn't catch up with her until she was in the queue.

"You can't have chips. You don't have your purse."

"Wallet. And you should know by now I keep an extra bit of cash with me for such emergencies." Liz dug in her pocket and pulled out a five pound note, waving it in Sarah's face. "Now do you think I should get small or large?"

"I dunno." Glancing over she saw that Sarah had given up and was leaning against the window. "Smother them in curry sauce for all I care."

"Oo no!" she said dramatically. "Why would I do that?"

Ten minutes later Liz emerged from the shop with a large portion of chips wrapped up and a 1.5 litre bottle of Coke. She glanced at her watch as the shop closed up behind her after the lunch rush.

"Come on, Sarah." She said to her friend who had left to wait outside long before Liz had reached the front of the queue. "Time for our free period."

They made their way back to school; Liz with a huge smile on her face and Sarah with her arms folded in frustration.

"I knew you were bonkers, Liz," Sarah said all the panic lost from her voice, "but you really are completely…idiotically…incompetently…"

"Believe me Sarah, I know what I'm doing better than anyone." She stood there with a big grin on her face.

"Now what are you doing?"

"Waiting for the crowd to disperse." The bell for the next lesson had rung and the corridors were filled with the many, many students going to lesson. "Go through that crowd with chips? Yeah right!"

After five minutes the crowd had dispersed.

"Come on," Liz said going through the doors on the right, "this way."

Sarah followed begrudgingly and soon they were in the Balcony. Looking around, it wasn't that different from when she'd left it two and a half hours ago to go to lesson. Her bag was still there, left there because putting it on her back had been too painful. The DVD player was still by the wall with the leads all in a tangle. The only difference was that her dad's coat and granddad's hat was gone; obviously they were with Spike.

"What are we doing here?"

"Are you going to shut up anytime soon?" Liz sat against one of side walls and set down the chips parcel. Carefully she unwrapped it as Sarah sat down opposite her, still sulking.

"I still think you're too relaxed about this." Sarah said as the door shut.

"And I still think you made a mistake going out with-"

"Shut up!" Sarah snapped. "That was a mistake."

"Twice." Liz giggled.

"Shut up!"

"If you don't learn from history you're doomed to repeat it."

"Shut up!"

Liz picked up a chip and stuffed it in her mouth.

"It's so easy to get on your nerves, you know." She laughed.

Sarah opened her mouth to answer but then the door opened slowly. Liz didn't look up and continued to eat her chips.

"You're late." Liz opened the bottle of coke and took a swig from it. "We were able to move about ten minutes ago." The figure at the door stood in silence. "And don't think for a second that I'm going to share this bottle."

Looking across at Sarah, Liz saw she was shocked by their guest and smiled.

"Don't worry." Said Spike. "I don't want any."

_Next: Secrets_


	6. Secrets

**Disclaimer: **Don't own characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer or any other shows mentioned throughout this fic.

**Author's notes: **This is a particularly long chapter and hopefully you'll notice I have taken reviews on board and (hopefully) improved the quality of this chapter. I'm very sorry that not a lot is happening but this must be done. The next chapter will be a while in coming as I still need to sort out some of the details but believe me when I say it will be worth it. Thanks for all reviews. Please keep them coming.

**Chapter Six: Secrets**

Falling on to her bed at home, Liz thought about everything she'd been through. Honestly the only part hazardous to her health had been the incident with the wall. She didn't count the endless stress of hiding a vampire at school. Her window was open and the soothing sound of cars driving by was making her feel very drowsy. Probably the only thing keeping her awake was the straining aches in her back. Something told her she'd be paying for today for a long time to come.

It was five twenty in the afternoon. She'd had a lesson at three but had decided to visit Spike before she came back. He was staying at school overnight. It was so much easier than sneaking him out of school and back home. He was fine with staying there anyway; he didn't fancy wearing the hat again. And truthfully it was one less thing for her to worry about.

Homework lay in the school bag which lay on the floor. She wasn't going to touch it anytime soon though. Like many people who attend school, Liz had a thing where homework was rarely done at home, if done at all.

Breathing deep she tried to settle to sleep but realised that it was impossible for her to fall asleep in the day. No rational explanation but for as long as she can remember she'd been unable to sleep. Well actually there was that one time, but she doesn't count it really as her mum had given her a sleeping tablet after motion-sickness tablets failed on a particularly long car journey. In all fairness it had worked.

After about ten minutes she got bored with just lying around so she went downstairs to help Nan with dinner. And she was greatly pleased she was only having pasta with Dolmio tomato and basil sauce. For some reason the thought of eating something 'heavy' just made her feel queasy.

"Oh what I would give for the simple life." She sighed, sitting down in front of the television in her room. She flicked through the channels and perked up. "Oh." It was anything but simple but BBC2 was showing The Good Life and Liz settled into watching it. After that she found something else to watch and the rest of that evening followed on much a similar way.

Ten O'clock came and Liz laid on her bed and closed her eyes trying to sleep. The blind was pulled down and the window still open. It allowed the cold night air to pass in and make the room like a fridge when she woke up. She knew from experience that she would black out about half an hour before falling asleep so she still had a while left.

After a while, she was just beginning to drop off when she heard a sharp 'clink!' The first time she heard it she ignored it and when it happened again and again she put the pillow over her ears. Doing this helped in no way what so ever. The noise kept going every minute or so and after a while she heard someone hissing something.

Eventually she decided to lift the pillow but instantly regretted it because she heard what the person was hissing.

"Beebs!"

She went to the window and lifted the blind and sure enough in her Nan's front garden was stood Spike. He was wearing her dad's coat and granddad's hat.

"What?" she hissed at him leaning out of the window. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"I'm nocturnal, dumbass."

"And I'm not, buttmunch. I'm human. And I'm in major need of sleep due to lots of pain in my back and stress from today."

"Bloody hell! I've said I'm sorry." Spike was holding onto the hat as there was a wind that seemed determined to whisk it off his head. "What more do you want?"

"Go away and let me sleep."

"And what am _I_ supposed to do? Wander around aimlessly?"

"I don't know. And truthfully I don't care." she was getting louder and someone shifted next door. "Hide!"

Quickly she pulled the blind closed and jumped into bed just as her bedroom door opened and someone looked inside. Whichever of her grandparents it was must have been happy that nothing was happening as after barely a minute the door was closed and Liz heard them move into the bathroom.

She waited a couple of minutes to make sure she wasn't going to get caught before returning to the window.

"Spike!" she hissed. He stepped out from below her window. "What do you want?"

"Grown bored haven't I. Hardly much to do up at that school o' yours, pet."

"And?"

"I decided to go for a walk and I figured I could save myself getting in trouble with the violent harpy queen from hell by turning up at her house and letting her know."

"And you didn't know where else to go?" Spike shrugged, partly turning his back on her. "And because of that you're throwing rocks at my window?" She looked down at him. "Well there is no way I can knowingly let you wander round on your own."

"As I recall I wasn't asking permission."

"As I recall you sorta kinda were." She said, ignoring the obvious sneer in his voice. "Give me a couple of minutes.

She closed the blind again before Spike could protest and pulled out some clothes from her wardrobe. In two minutes she was dressed and in her sister's bedroom. Unlocking and opening the window she twisted the handle all the way round and pulled the window back. It was one of those windows which was designed to open completely so that in the event of a fire people, could climb out to safety. Looking out she saw that just beneath the window was the conservatory.

She climbed out and slid herself across the conservatory roof before jumping off. Taking twenty seconds to let the feeling get back into her legs she began to think if what she was doing was wise. Remembering that she never did the wise thing anyway she climbed onto a couple of garden chairs and leapt over the garden fence that led onto the street. It was colder than she expected outside and the thin grey jacket she'd thrown on wasn't any good. Drawing the jacket closer around herself she trudged along the driveway towards the front garden. Sure enough, the vampire was there looking expectantly at her bedroom window.

"Come on." She croaked and Spike turned. "Before I fall asleep on my feet." She led the way off the driveway and round the front of the house.

"Where are we going?"

"You're a vampire. And where do vampires like to hang out?"

"Bars?"

"Well, yeah. Places that sell or give out alcohol are pretty popular among the dead. I think that's because you don't have to worry about things like liver disease or whatever." Liz said as they crossed over the road. "But d'you really think that anyone in their right mind would let _me_ in a bar?" Spike thought about it before nodding.

They turned down a beaten track which was poorly lit by a streetlamp from the road behind them. The road carried on down into darkness and beyond.

"Just down here." Something deep inside her was telling her to turn back. She hadn't been down here in over a year and she felt it was guilt attempting to push her away. That and a deeply-rooted fear of the dark dating back to childhood fears of an octopus living on her bedroom floor. Details are best left unknown. They had to climb a small hill and pass through a small field.

"So where the bloody hell are we?"

"Hang on a sec. Stay there." She walked a bit further into the open. She waved her arm about a bit and sure enough, she heard a click and the light went on. She turned around and faced Spike. "Welcome to our very own little graveyard." She said.

She watched Spike look around and was glad to see him suppress a smile. He continued to glance around as he strode over towards her.

"No crypts."

"No." she agreed sighing as he reached where she was standing. "Crypts are more of an American thing it would seem. Or French. They have lots of crypts there. Small things though barely eight by six. Not nearly as extravagant as yours." As she paused she noticed Spike staring at her with an eyebrow raised. "I'm tired. I babble. Get used to it." He rolled his eyes and pushed past her. "You see I thought, you being a vampire and all, you'd feel better around the dead." Spike walked to the furthest edge of the pool of light and gazed at all the gravestones.

"Yeah. Being dead means I only hang with dead folks." He said sarcastically. "And crazy people." She saw him glance at her momentarily.

"You know, for someone who called me the…violent harpy queen from hell was it…you seem very mouthy all of a sudden." She grinned. "Has Spike got spunk?"

"Why is there a motion-sensitive light?" he said without pausing.

"Well you often get the midnight mourners and the church is quite small and self-financed. It saves the electricity bill to have one that turns on and off than keep one on all night."

"I imagine."

She was thinking about how 'excited' Spike sounded when he lifted his hand and pointed at a grave quite a way away and in the grimness.

"What's on that grave?" he asked. Peering into the darkness, she saw the grave he meant. There were some white things sitting on the gravestone and a few things around the actual headstone. It was impossible to see from there but Liz had passed it a couple of times before and had to ask her grandparents about it.

"Toys." She swallowed. Spike nodded knowingly and Liz was grateful she didn't have to explain it to him. Talking about children's graves was never an easy task. Not that she'd had to try before. Thankfully.

She closed her eyes, momentarily succumbing to the over-whelming desire to sleep. Tilting her head back she felt the slight wind on her face which helped keep her awake.

"So what d'you think?" she asked.

"What're are these?" His voice came from behind her. She opened her eyes and turned to see he'd climbed the small bank behind them.

"You know for a dead guy who spends a lot of his time in graveyards," she said walking over to join him, "you don't know very much about them."

She looked at what he was talking about. A series of small slabs set in the ground arranged into about thirteen rows, although the one furthest from them wasn't complete.

"This is where cremated people are buried."

"Cremated?"

"Yeah." She turned to him. "You never come across cremation before?"

"I'm dead it makes no difference to me." Spike shrugged. Liz gazed back over the grave slabs.

"It's when you take a dead body and burn it so it's nothing but a pile of ash. You then bury the pile of ash." Her eyes flicked to a particular grave and she prayed that Spike didn't see. Panic shot through her when she saw Spike was watching her.

Taking his attention from her, he slowly strode through the rows, carefully avoiding the fallen flowers from the graves. As she went to follow him, he stopped about eight rows back. As she caught up with him, she saw he'd stopped with a slab at his feet. One glance made her want to run.

Instead of stopping, she strode straight past aiming for the wooden bench five yards away on the other side of the slabs.

"I see." Said Spike knowingly. "Now that explains a lot."

"What does?" Liz shrugged settling down onto the bench. He bent over the slab.

"Beloved son and father." He read. "You never told me your dad was dead."

"You never asked if he was." She pulled her jacket closer around herself.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Strangely enough things haven't changed a bit since you asked if it was a sensitive subject this morning."

"Pretending it never happened won't do you no good, luv." She looked at him half-expecting him to be laughing at her but he looked deadly serious.

"Spike the psychiatrist, are you?" she said.

"Screw that." he scoffed before wandering off. After a while Liz lifted her legs onto the bench and held them against her chest. It was bitterly cold and she really hadn't thought through what she was wearing. The shirt had short sleeves and the jacket was no help.

She couldn't see Spike but she could hear him shuffling about beyond the pool of light. After a while the tiredness really began to take hold of her body and she was just about aware of where she was and what was going on. Closing her eyes she managed to doze for a while but couldn't quite achieve actual sleep.

It was after an hour that she felt the bench beneath her shake so violently that she rolled off it landing on the hard ground. She didn't need to see to know who was behind it.

"Spike!" she yelled from the floor. "You bastard!"

"I've found another one." He hissed. Looking up she saw Spike was stood behind the bench, leaning over it. His mouth was curled in a slight smile and his eyes were lit up in excitement.

Minutes later they were stood round the back of the church, Spike next to the wall and Liz a little way back. Spike glanced round, probably to make sure she was watching, before reaching out with his fingers. Like with the one at school, his fingers passed through a blue shimmer appeared on the wall.

"Was walking around and noticed the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. They did that near the other one." He withdrew his fingers and turned round. His grin was so wide it was in danger of jumping off his face. "That's where I came through."

"Are you sure?"

"Well it makes sense, don't it?" he said. "I don't remember much about what happened before and after I came through but I know that I didn't go far before I found your house." He kept glancing back at the portal and she guessed that she'd do the same if presented with the only way back home. "I think I know how this got here."

"Really?" she tried to sound interested, for she was very interested, but the weariness of her body was reaching her voice and at best she sounded bored.

"Never mind." his voice told her that he'd automatically come to the wrong conclusion. She rolled her eyes thinking how he'd most likely sulk for a while now and he wouldn't share his theory.

"So that portal thing will take you back home?" she asked in an attempt to keep the conversation going. Spike nodded and Liz groaned inwardly. Annoying as he was, it was exciting having an actual real live vampire around. Sure he was violent and abusive and horrible to be around most of the time but so was she; or so people told her. "Are you gonna go now?"

"What?" he exclaimed. "And leave my favourite jacket up at your school? Not sodding likely!"

Part of her was angry he was only staying to retrieve his jacket and the other part was relieved he wasn't going yet.

"Besides," he said walking up to her and placing his hand on her head, "I want to hear more about this world. Tell me about it, Beebs." He ruffled her hair before wandering back to the light. Slowly Liz followed him, heading straight back to the bench and settling down in the way she had before.

"Well…Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a big thing here." She said meekly.

"Really?" he wandered slowly round by the perimeter of the cremated graves. "Specifically Buffy?"

"Well…she is pretty popular, being the title character and all. But everyone has their own fan base and group of people who like them. Xander; Anya; Oz; Willow; Tara; everyone." She saw the expectant look in his eyes as he watched the ground in front of him. "You're really popular too."

He paused and glanced over. "Yeah?"

"Oh yeah! HUGE fan bases and tons of fanfics."

"Fan-what?"

"Never mind. You know," she glanced at him, "I used to have this big crush on you."

"Very funny." He said, continuing his patrol.

"No really." She picked up a piece of grass and began to strip it. She did that sometimes while talking. Fidgety fingers as it was. "I was eight at the time though. And a teensy bit crazy."

"Whereas now you're the prime example of sanity." Spike said sarcastically.

"Just like you, then." Liz quipped.

"Sod off." Spike said as he stopped walking. Straight away he reached inside the jacket and pulled out a packet of cigarettes. Sliding one out, he lit and began smoking it.

"I've got a theory." She blurted out. He took the cigarette out his mouth and breathed out the noxious fumes. "I am never going to be able to say that ever again without thinking of the song." She scrunched up her eyes so she couldn't see the glare she knew he was giving her. "I was hoping to bring this up at an appropriate time in conversation but it sort of hasn't presented itself."

Warily, Liz opened one eye and screamed because Spike was in her face with his cigarettes a couple of centimetres away from her cheek. The vampire drew back from her and laughed.

"You bastard!" she yelled.

Spike kept laughing as he put his cigarette in his mouth again.

"What's this theory?" He said. He took out the cigarette and let the fumes out again. She ignored him, tempted not to reveal what she knew to him. It must have shown on his face because his face softened and he said, "No hard feelings, pet."

Although she still felt like smacking him in the face, she felt it was important to get this said. Might make him slightly easier to tolerate. She swung her legs over the edge of the bench and sat up properly.

"You came into my house uninvited. You have a reflection and you can go out in the sun."

"Observant little bugger, aren't you?" Spike said.

"Not helping." She said, shooting a look at him. "You see, where you come from, vampires exist and there are rules that stop them killing absolutely everyone. The having to be invited in, the inability to hunt in daylight without going 'poof' and the lack of reflection."

"Having no reflection doesn't stop us hunting."

"Well…I guess not. But it makes you easier to identify." Spike seemed t think about it before he nodded in agreement.

"Your point is?"

"Those rules exist where you come from but you reach here and because we're not supposed to have actual vampires here, those rules just don't exist." She pointed at Spike. "It doesn't change the fact that you're a vampire or that you have a behavioural chip in your head. All that's changed is the rules."

She stopped talking and let it hang in the air for a while. Then as Spike was stood there smoking and, presumably, taking in what she'd said, a horrid thought struck her. What if he got upset and threw her at another wall?

This thought was ridiculous as there was no way that Spike could find this idea upsetting. However Liz happened to have the horrible knack to latch onto a horrifying, if improbable, thought and worry over it for long amounts of time. Luckily she didn't have to worry for too long.

"Anything's possible I guess." He said. He flicked his butt on the ground and Liz tried to ignore that he'd flicked it onto one of the graves. "I suppose you want to hear my theory about the blue wall things now."

"Not really." She shrugged and managed not to smile when Spike looked at her shocked. "I'm sure I'll live without it."

"Now you hang on one sodding minute." He huffed. "I listened to your theory and am willing to share now. So you're gonna bloody well listen." He walked over and sat on the bench next to her. "A little while ago…where I'm from…there was this…God thing called Glory." He kept pausing as though he was searching for the right words every few seconds. She didn't dare try and interrupt though. "She wanted to use the key…Dawn…to try and open the gateways between all worlds." He reached into the jacket and pulled out another cigarette. He didn't continue, instead twiddling the cigarette between his fingers.

"So you think these gateways might be…left over from that then?"

He stood up and strode away very quickly, stopping a short way away. Turning back to her, he was already lighting it.

"Possibly." He flicked the lighter off and stood there smoking another cigarette.

She curled up on the bench again. Spike was being all avoid-y and if he stopped talking maybe she could get some more sleep. After en minutes though, he spoke again.

"How old were you?" He asked.

"Hmm?" she turned to him.

"When your dad died?"

Liz stared at him with her weary eyes. He looked like he was genuinely curious and not just pissing about. This wasn't a subject she often talked about; it wasn't one she was often asked about. Everyone pretty much heard she lived with her grandparents and her dad was dead and said 'I'm sorry' before settling into an uncomfortable silence.

She half-expected him to press the matter but he must have seen she was thinking as he didn't say anything; he just stood there taking puffs of the cigarette. After a while she realised he wasn't going to pressure her into an answer and figured she may as well tell him about it.

"I was eleven." She said plainly. "It was exactly one month after my birthday."

Spike paused before asking, "Were you with him, when it happened?" She shook her head.

"D'you know what I was doing? I was sat with my cousin watching Harry Potter." she laughed slightly with embarrassment. "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. And the thing I remember most about that night is telling my cousin that if my dad died I hoped he'd meet the guy who plays Dumbledore in it. See I remembered that he'd died which is why they got in Michael Gambon in for the third film." She smiled at the memory of that. It was quite childish but it made her feel sort of warm inside to think of a happy thought to do with that time.

"So where does mum fit into this?"

Her smile instantly disappeared and she wished he hadn't asked about her.

"She doesn't." She stopped watching Spike, instead focusing on her knees. She heard him flick his cigarette butt away.

"Care to expand on that?"

"Nope." The tone of her voice made sure that he was aware that there was no negotiating the matter. Unfortunately Spike either didn't pick up on it or he decided to ignore it.

"Did she leave you?"

"Nope." Liz said, curtly.

"What did she do?"

"Nope."

"Beebs."

"Nope."

"Beebs!"

"No!" She literally leapt up off the bench. "Maybe it's taking a while for you to get it into your thick head, Spike, but I don't want to talk about my mother." Slowly she sat back down on the bench as the cold bit into her.

"Fine." He said starting to stride around again. "But tell me this. Did you say goodbye?"

"No way. Do you have any idea what Goodbye means?"

"Goodbye?" he guessed.

"No!" she scoffed. "It's like 'The End'." Se glanced over and saw the 'what the eff' look she was expecting. "Imagine every time you say 'Hello' to someone it's like you're starting a story. 'Once Upon A Time'. And when you say 'Goodbye' you're basically saying 'The End'; 'it's over'."

"So what do you say?"

"'See you later'. It's like saying 'To Be Continued' and is a hell of a lot easier to say." She looked over at Spike who laughed.

"You are bloody barking." He laughed. Something inside Liz just snapped. He kept pushing her and pushing her while she was talking about things that mattered to her. This was just one remark too far so she stood up and started to walk towards the path that led back home. "Whoa! Wait!" Spike chased after her and grabbed her on the arm. "Where are you going?"

She turned back to him. "You don't want to listen to my ramblings? Fine. There's no need to drag me out in the middle of the night to tell me that. I'm tired and I'm cold and I'm going home."

She tried to pull out of his grip only to find it was quite firm. Attempting to yank her arm away from him, something in her arm cracked.

She yelled as the pain coursed through her arm and instantly Spike let go of her arm drawing back. Cradling her arm and looking over at him, she saw he was clutching at his head and crying out in pain. She realised that the chip in his head had gone off because he hadn't let go and she'd become hurt because of it.

"I'm sorry." She said. Really it was her fault for trying to pull away. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry." She babbled.

He looked up at her and stood up straight. Pulling the jacket he was wearing straight he tried to look composed as though nothing had happened and Liz couldn't help laughing.

Together they just stood there looking at each other for a few minutes. Doing nothing; saying nothing. No unspoken messages passed between them. Nothing happened.

And because nothing was happening the motion-sensitive light switched itself off.

Both of them burst out laughing. It wasn't clear why they were laughing, but to both of them the situation they were in seemed ridiculous.

Both of them walked back into the graveyard and, after turning the light back, sat on the bench and talked. There weren't anymore uncomfortable silences or arguments. Once or twice Spike would stand up and have another cigarette.

And it continued like this till the early hours of the morning.

_Next: Problems_


	7. Problems

**Disclaimer: **Don't own characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer or any other shows mentioned throughout this fic.

**Author's notes: **This one took a while but I'm finally happy with how it's gone despite having to rewrite a few bits several times over. This is where a bit of the action begins. I would like to thank the people who are reading especially AhcomeonnowTed for his unbelievable patience and words of support and Insha-sha-sha for listening and keeping her mouth shut when talking to Burrett-face. Please read and review. Enjoy!

**Chapter Seven: Problems**

Liz burst into the classroom almost ten minutes after the maths lesson was supposed to begin. It was next door to where their lesson had been yesterday but was supposed to be with a different teacher. She was ready to mumble her apology, as she usually did, when she noticed the teacher wasn't even in the room. No one seemed troubled by this and all the boys were talking with each other.

"Liz!" Sarah waved at her from their normal table near the door. It was the closest one so that when the bell went they could leave as soon as possible. "Where've you been?"

"Sorry." She sat down next to Sarah. "I had a free lesson first thing so I was asleep."

"What?"

"Spike turned up at my house last night." Liz yawned. "We ended up sitting in the graveyard talking most of the night. And when I got here this morning I fell asleep in the Balcony."

"The balcony?"

"Yeah um…that room we were in yesterday."

"That's called the Gallery."

"Oh. Well whatever it's called, I was there. Asleep." Liz said sleepily. "I actually thought I would be late." It was confusing, the teacher they were having would usually run if she saw Liz approaching the classroom so she could joke about her being late as she'd arrived after the teacher.

"How's Spike?" Sarah asked in a hushed voice.

"There's no need to whisper. No one's listening." She replied indicating the boys who were all deep in conversation and paying neither of the girls any attention. "And I don't know. He was gone when I woke up."

"Gone?"

"Don't worry." She tried to reassure Sarah. "He'll be around somewhere." Sarah didn't look convinced. Why was it so hard for Sarah to take her word for it? "Where's the teacher?" she said in an attempt to change the subject.

Sarah was about to answer but Liz cut across her.

"You know what, I don't care. Just give me a heads up if she arrives." She slumped over onto the desk and closed her eyes. If the teacher was going to be late she'd catch a bit more sleep.

Five more minutes passed before the boys began discussing leaving the classroom.

The sound of a couple of people shuffling past her and going out the door reached her ears.

"If she's not going to turn up," she heard Ollie say, "we should go do something productive." She sat up and turned to Sarah.

"Did I just hear _Ollie_ say that?" she laughed. Sarah nodded.

"That was weird." She agreed. "I think we ought to go."

Looking round there was only a few boys, Ollie and the two of them left in the room. They began to get themselves sorted when they heard the door open and all of them looked to see who it was.

It wasn't their teacher. It was a woman, tall with shoulder-length brown hair which had one streak of bright pink in it on her right-hand side. Her face was free of blemishes and her top was pink with flecks of red paint, fairly see-through and extremely low-cut while her fingernails were long and painting with strikingly red nail varnish. Needless to say her presence had grabbed the boys' attention quite fiercely.

This woman stood in the doorway and looked around at them all. She was smiling but it was harrowing. Something was telling Liz that the presence of this woman was not a good sign and she had a feeling it was the 'red paint'.

"I'm afraid I'm a little lost." The woman said through her bit-too-pearly-white teeth.

"I'm sure I can help, miss." Offered Ollie stepping forward to make himself known. The woman smiled at him.

"Oh please." She said flashing her smile towards him. "Call me Scarlett." The name sent a shiver though Liz and she was getting unnerved by the fact that Scarlett was stood in front of, and therefore blocking, the only way out. "I'm looking for someone. Do you know where I might find Beebs?"

Liz's heartbeat raced. How did she know that name? The boys all murmured amongst themselves, trying to find out if anyone knew a Beebs while Liz glanced over at Sarah who looked just as worried as she was.

"It's really important." Simpered Scarlett. "I'm looking for someone and I'm fairly sure that she knows where he is."

Liz leant across to Sarah. "When she comes away from the door," she whispered, "go get Spike."

Sarah nodded and shifted closer to the door. Her heart racing, Liz stepped through the boys and stood facing Scarlett.

"Hi." She said. Her hands were trembling with fear. Once Scarlett's eyes had settled on Liz her grin widened and her eyes sparkled with familiarity and success.

"I honestly thought it'd be more difficult than this." She said.

"Well, honestly," Liz joked, "I re-heally can't be doing with pissing about right now."

"Just makes it easier for me." She tilted her head. "I must thank you for that."

Liz shrugged and almost instantly Scarlett strode forward and wrapped her fingers round her throat. As her windpipe was constricted, Liz began choking and everybody backed away. Over Scarlett's shoulder though, she saw Sarah, and several others, disappear through the door.

"You know," Liz spluttered with difficulty, "if you strangle me then I'll never be able to help you."

"Au contraire. You see I'm trying to get the attention of a certain vampire who should be hereabouts." Scarlett squeezed her throat tighter and Liz felt her feet leave the floor. "I squeeze your throat and he comes running." She tilted her head and crushed Liz's neck a little more. "Oh and I get the satisfaction of a kill." Liz choked as she felt Scarlett's fingernails pierce her neck and a small trickle of warm blood drip down her neck.

All she could see was Scarlett's face but it was beginning to blur and there was black creeping in at the edge of her vision. She was dying, or falling unconscious; truthfully she wasn't sure as coherent thought was becoming another difficulty. Then, suddenly the pressure was gone and she felt pain in her feet and side. Before she was able to regain any sense of orientation she felt herself lifted by the arm and half-carried, half-dragged out the room. Then, feeling the sudden cold, she realised she must be outside.

"Wha-What happened?" she murmured.

"I hit her across the back with a chair." She heard a voice say beside her. Slowly her vision was coming back and she could see that Ollie was the one who was carrying her. "Stunned her enough to let you go."

They were hurrying round the outside of the building although not very fast. Ollie was having trouble with trying to move Liz since she was pretty non-mobile. However as the blood began to circulate again she became more able to move and, with Liz more or less carrying herself although supported by Ollie, soon they were inside the main building.

"Are you alright?" asked Ollie as he headed towards the sixth form café area. Liz took herself off his shoulder and carried on while he followed behind.

"I'm fine." She choked as she pushed open the door into the common room and once they were inside she leant against the wall by the window. Slowly she could feel her breath returning and rested, breathing deep taking in the common room around her. She tried to rub feeling into her neck which was beginning to prickle with pins and needles. It was uncomfortable as she wasn't able to move her neck without her muscles trying to stop her. And she thought having pins and needles in her legs was bad.

There were a few people in there, some she knew and some she didn't. They were sat on the blue comfy chairs that were moved by every group who went in there. Some would line them against the wall beneath the window overlooking the sixth form area; others would put them any old way, in a circle or thrown all over the place. Now they were arranged in a line facing the TV on the wall. No one was paying it any attention though; all of them were looking at her and Ollie.

"What's going on?" asked a boy who was peering over the chairs.

Ollie opened his mouth to answer but the sound of a large explosion erupted and filled their ears. While Ollie went on to explain what was happening, Liz peered through the window towards the meeting hall and language department. No doubt the sound was Scarlett breaking the magnetised door only teachers were supposed to use. Any minute now she would burst through from over there and truthfully Liz had no plan for what to do.

She was sure Spike was the only one whom could take her; Sarah had run off to get him but he could be anywhere on site and it could take forever to find him. Until then Liz was gonna have to improvise and keep the bitch distracted; but, as her throbbing neck reminded her, this psycho could easily kill her and the thought of death was un-nerving at the very least. The problem was how to keep her busy.

It was at that point that it occurred to her. Oh the glory of being Liz!

She stood up and, shakily, made her way to the door of the common room.

"Where are you going?" asked one of the people. Liz looked round at them.

"That big explosion was bad news." She said. They would never believe her if she said the truth. "It was someone called Scarlett busting the magnetised doors."

"This bitch is psychotic." Injected Ollie.

"That too." Liz nodded in agreement. "For some reason she wants me. So I can stay here if you want. But she'll probably kick all your asses too. My advice is stay in here; stay down; keep watching…" she glanced at the TV screen. "Jeremy Kyle?" she shrugged. "Figures." Just as she was opening the door, she turned back and said, "If I live through this, let me know how the DNA test comes out 'cause I not convinced that he's the father." Then a voice echoed from the direction Scarlett was sure to be coming from.

"Beebs!" came the annoyingly high voice which Liz had already begun to hate for its shrillness.

"And what's with that beebs thing?" Ollie asked.

"Very long and very complicated story that I have a strong feeling I will be repeating to a psychiatrist many years from now." And with that Liz went through the door. Carefully she moved towards the doors leading out of the sixth form area.

Just as she passed through them, the street filled with the sound of breaking wood as the doors of the Meeting Hall were ripped from their hinges.

Glancing over she saw Scarlett come through the doors and drop the doors at her feet.

"I know you're here!" she yelled. "I can smell you!"

Next to the doors into the sixth form area there was a staircase which went up to a small platform which was connected to another set of stairs leading up to the closed-off balcony which led to the IT and maths departments upstairs. Carefully Liz moved up the first set and stood on the platform. She would prefer to crouch there but it was surrounded by a rail rather than anything more solid. Crouching would have been pointless. Pointless and revealing.

Scarlett's eyes almost immediately found her where she stood, which was shocking because Liz had expected to have to shout to get attention. Stupidly, she watched while Scarlett stooped and grabbed one of the doors on the floor and only about two seconds before the door would have collided with her head, did she realise and ducked as Scarlett threw the door at her.

The wood splintered and the glass shattered as it collided with the staircase. Liz was crouched on the tiny platform with her eyes scrunched tight while the woodchips and glass shards showered her, cut her hands which were clasped to her head in an attempt to protect herself. She knew it wouldn't do anything but it was just instinct.

As the debris settled, there were two things she noticed; the first was her heartbeat pounding in ears like some rock drummer was beating a solo from within her head making it throb as well, but all this meant she was still alive; the second was she couldn't hear Scarlett, no snide remarks nor gloating quips, which could only mean bad.

Opening her eyes and surveying the situation around her, she saw that Scarlett wasn't where she had been so she took the gut decision of proceeding up the stairs without checking to see where Scarlett was. It was a wise decision because once she was at the double doors at the top of the staircase she could hear clicks on the stairs.

"Great." She groaned. "Trust this to be a high-heel wearing super-bitch vampire." She didn't bother closing the door behind herself, seeing as doors weren't exactly a problem, and turned right.

Running was terrible and achy. Never really a strong point of hers which is why she'd so welcomed the chance to ditch PE. However she had thought of trying to exercise more. And by 'thought of' she meant her Nan had told her she ought to do more. What would Nan say if she knew what she was doing now?

Passing through the double-doors she ran along the corridor on her left heading towards the room, whatever it was called, where Spike was based. She couldn't think why she was doing this. It was crazy. If she went in there, there was no guarantee Spike was there and no way out. She decided she wouldn't go there then; she'd take the stairs down before she reached the room. She reached the balcony near the school's entrance and ran across to the doors opposite; and found them locked.

She banged on them once, also giving them a kick for good measure, before giving up on them. Going back was a no go with the psycho-vamp on her tail. The only way out was over the barrier.

Another smash showed there was no time to think about it. Quickly she grabbed the rail and, using a random seat where misbehaving students from the lower years were sat when teachers had had enough of them, she hoisted her legs over the barrier and jumped down.

Hitting the floor was much more painful than she had anticipated, and she had anticipated an awful lot of pain. Her legs felt as though they were dying but she figured she hadn't broken anything so after laying there for about a minute she stood up and began to run back into the school. Running out would cause havoc and mayhem in the very real and very unknowing world.

She reached the hexagon and ran down towards the meeting hall again. People had heard the commotion and some teachers and students had entered into the Street. Some teachers were attempting to shepherd the students back in to the classrooms once they'd seen the carnage of shattered wood chips and glass shards.

Liz ignored them and walked towards the gaggle of people gathering. Her pace had slowed because there were more people about and Scarlett would probably leave her alone if she was in a more public place.

Liz couldn't get very close, deciding to stay towards the back, as teachers were beginning to move people on, trying to usher them to an exit. It seemed no one had any idea what was going on and a general evacuation had been decided on but she couldn't leave yet; especially not with all the students and other people who'd be out there. It'd be a massacre.

Every few seconds she was checking over her shoulder to see if Scarlett was there. There was no sign of her though but when the others began to be led out she ducked into a small corridor leading off from the main Street.

It was quite weird how quickly the place cleared; lots of students had passed through from all the classrooms. What was weirdest was how Scarlett hadn't caught up with her yet.

Turning her attention from the empty Street, she sat down to think. Scarlett was a vampire; ergo she came from the portal round the back of the church which is where she probably was last night when she saw Liz with Spike and heard him call her Beebs, hence her knowing the name. Also she was very cliché, I mean, when she'd ripped the doors off, Liz half-expected her to say something about breaking a nail. Not forgetting her really red nails with the name Scarlett. And the slow following of Liz through the corridor. Please.

Scarlett wasn't here now and there was silence in the Street. The rules of cliché dictate that Scarlett won't turn up until Liz ventured out believing it safe. At this point Scarlett would pounce on her from 'nowhere' and destroy her.

The bell rang, causing Liz to jump. She glanced at her watch and saw it had been about forty minutes since her first encounter with the psycho. Taking a deep breath she stood up and stepped out into the Street.

Slowly she glanced up and down, knowing full well she wouldn't see Scarlett. Except she did. Next to the hexagon Scarlett was stood, twirling a lock of her hair between her fingers while smiling cruelly.

"There you are." She cooed. "I was beginning to think I'd lost you Beebsy."

"Alright!" Liz barked. "Beebs, I can handle at a push, but Beebsy? Scary bitch or not, you are pushing it!"

Scarlett laughed causing her hair to slip between her fingers ad bounce around her head. The laugh was shallow, hollow; it echoed slightly under the plastic roof.

"I'm done playing Hide 'n' Seek. I need that vampire here." Her smile was gone and, confidently, Scarlett strode over to Liz and gripped her firmly by the shoulder. "Now." Her grip tightened and a sharp pain erupted in Liz's shoulder. "Oh, I wonder…" her voice sounded playful again, as though she was playing a game, and she paused. "…what could possibly get the attention of a vampire?" Liz looked into the woman's eyes and could sense what was coming but Scarlett's fingers were tight on her shoulder.

Liz tried to pull out of the vice-like grip she was in but her shoulder wasn't moving. If she kept trying she'd only end up getting her shoulder ripped off or dislocated and that would just make things worse.

"You look like a clever girl." Scarlett teased. "What would make him drop everything and come to your _rescue_?" her fingers tightened and Liz let out a cry of pain as the nails pierced her shoulder and blood trickled out, staining her shirt.

"Well," Liz said through gritted teeth, "At least my neck and shoulder match now." Scarlett looked unimpressed and, swiftly, she withdrew her fingers and grasped both of Liz's arms by the side and pulled her closer.

"You are very annoying." She said.

"I thought you were done playing games." Liz knew what it was leading up to and, as she thought many other people to believe, the anticipation that something awful is going to happen is often worse than the real thing. However much she tried to convince herself this was true, she couldn't help hoping it would be quick and relatively painless.

As she looked at Scarlett's face it changed, or vamped as Liz tended to call. Her forehead became bumpy, her eyes yellow and her teeth more prominent.

"Fine." She said and leant towards Liz. "Goodbye." She hissed before she sank her teeth into her.

Liz's shoulder was already very sore and tender from where the bitch's fingernails had gone in. The pain from before was nothing compared to this though; it was as if her whole shoulder was skewered on barbed wire and it was being jerked about. She yelled out, screamed, in agony. She was losing a lot of blood; she could feel it leaking from her neck and reaching her clothes, weighing them down and with each second she became weaker and less aware of what was going on. The world before her was beginning to disappear; all of it going fuzzy, blurring at the edges and she wasn't able to make out anything. Her voice began to diminish and peter out while her eyelids fluttered, desperate to close, as her strength quickly faded.

She was aware of a voice yelling something, although she couldn't hear what, and the pain abating slightly but not completely. Scarlett must have drawn back; stopped. The pain left was coming from the exposed wound. Then she was suddenly aware of the sensation of falling and felt her back smash into the floor. She could see nothing now and hear very little but there was a loud cry and possibly a crash; she couldn't be sure.

Everything had faded into black; she was losing consciousness and, as she was becoming weaker, one very important thought occurred to her.

She hated vampires.

_Next: Let Battle Commence_


	8. Let Battle Commence

**Disclaimer: **Don't own characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer or any other shows mentioned throughout this fic.

**Author's notes: **oh my God! I toiled over this chapter for so long. I got stuck about half-way through but finished it in one big chunk. I am so glad it's finished at last. There's a bit after this but this is the last official chapter of the story. Reviews are wanted and welcome so let me know what you think. Enjoy (because I certainly did).

**Chapter Eight: Let Battle Commence**

It was a glorious day outside; in fact compared to yesterday it was impossible to believe it was the same place. No clouds sullied the sky which was a bright blue and beaming with the sun's rays. The grass on the large field was sparkling as the sunlight hit the dewdrops that still hung from the blades after the chilly night.

A breeze blew past, rustling the trees and rushing through Spike's fingers. He was sat on the field behind the school, as far away from the buildings as possible. He'd left his duster jacket back in that room; it was too hot to wear it and damn if he'd wear that bloody disguise with the God awful hat again. It felt unusual to be out in the day time without a thick blanket or bursting into fire. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy being out in the sun; it was…well actually it was downright unnatural.

Looking at his surroundings hurt his eyes, and closing them he concentrated on how the sun felt on his skin.

It had been a long time since he'd felt warmth; actual proper warmth. He'd been in places that had heating and fires and all that junk that humans used to keep themselves warm in the cold but this felt different; comforting. He was a vampire, he was meant to be cold, never really noticing the heat (unless it was fire); but lounging there in the sun he felt comfortable and safe; as though he were human; as though nothing could go wrong.

That was when he heard the screams.

They weren't screams like back home. Most of them were people shouting things like, 'Oh my fucking God!' and 'Jesus! That didn't just happen!' but they were sure signs of something happening Sunnydale-style. And all of them were male.

His eyes snapped open and he stood up looking over to the main buildings. The noises had died down but that rarely meant things were over. Slowly, he began to walk straight towards the building opposite; his pace quickened as each step brought him closer, until he was running at full pelt towards the school.

Stopping at the edge of the field, he looked down the quite steep hill that led to the patio which went towards the doors in. He couldn't see anybody coming round the school or going in the entrance; it was likely they were already inside.

The sound of ripping metal came from round the corner to his right. After sliding down the bank, Spike set off towards the direction of the noise. Something wasn't good; he could feel it.

As he turned the corner, the first thing he saw wasn't promising. Around this side of the school there was a pair of doors that didn't open. He'd come across them the day before when he'd gone exploring. Beebs had said they were magnetised; not designed to be opened without a teacher's access card. One of those doors was laid on the floor about ten feet from the doorway and the other one was nowhere to be seen.

Approaching the door, a wide hole in the wall became apparent. Bricks were scattered everywhere and there was a view into the adjoining classrooms. Eager inquisitive faces peered through the cracks, all of them struggling to see what was going on. Many of the eyes that saw the figure standing widened in horror…no, disbelief when they figured out who was there. He heard whispered murmurs being passed from person to person. He'd guessed that someone would recognise him if he went out and about without the bloody hat; but right now it seemed there was something here that was dangerous.

There was a tinge of electricity to the air, something that sent, for want of a better word, tingles through his body.

The faces had gone, hurried out by the relevant teachers. Probably for the best; this was something natural, something…Sunnydale. Blue skies spotted with cotton wool clouds tumbled overhead but on the ground there was a storm brewing.

He carefully picked his way through the rubble from the walls. He sniffed at the air. There was no scent; nothing distinct. Most probably a vampire he was dealing with. It was a while since he'd got in a scrap with a vampire.

His thoughts were so focused on how he might deal with this creature that when he ended up on the floor it took him by surprise.

"What the bloody hell…?" he started but stopped when he saw he'd fallen over a girl.

"Ow!" she said timidly. "That really hurt." She stood up and he could see she was wearing normal clothes rather than the blue uniform native to the school. Beebs had explained that those not wearing the uniform were in the Sixth Form; as if that made anymore sense. "Sorry." She smiled apologetically.

"Who the bloody hell are you?"

"Insha." Her reply was layered with equal rudeness. "And you are?"

"You don't recognise me?"

"Bit full of yourself, aren't you? Should I know you?"

"You're kinda short." So far the shortest person not in the blue uniform had been Beebs and he thought she was small enough as it was. Insha was only a few inches shorter, if that, but it was unusual.

"Why does everyone say that?" she whined. "I'm not that short!"

Spike grinned at her response. Some people were born to be wound up.

She wasn't very tall; not very short either but somewhere in between. Beebs and Sarah had mentioned this Insha girl before. It seemed they teased her for her height as well.

"Never mind." He shook his head and walked past her. He'd been in the company of Insha for only a few minutes but already he found he didn't like it. She annoyed him and the thrill of teasing her wore off to easily.

"WAIT!" For someone so small she could yell pretty loud. Then again Beebs rarely seemed to talk without shouting at him about something. Swinging round, he saw she was not best pleased. "I'm sick of people calling me short!"

"Then grow!" It wasn't his problem she was short. Get over it and move on, he was tempted to say. He turned and continued down the corridor. Something knocked the back of his head before falling to the ground. Rolling his eyes, he turned round. Sure enough Insha was stood in the same place only one of her shoes was missing. Looking down he saw it at his feet. "Did you," he was slow, carefully enunciating every word, "throw your shoe at me?"

"I'm not stupid!" her face was contorted in anger. "I know something's going on!"

"Oh you do, do you?" his hands dropped to his sides. "Tell me what you've seen then, pet."

"Liz working for one thing. She never does work in the computer room. Ever. Sarah worried bout Liz then suddenly dropping the subject like nothing happened; Liz turning up with mysterious wounds and sneaking about all sneaky like." She folded her arms across her chest. "I've been cut out and thrown away like I'm some stupid little baby."

Spike merely looked at her; tilting his head he breathed in. The signs hadn't been all that subtle but people are usually blind to what's staring them in the face. That's why people in Sunnydale were usually disbelieving of vampires, werewolves and demons. But this girl had noticed; been observant. There was a pause before he spoke again.

"I'm looking for Sarah and Beebs. Do you know where they might be?"

"Beebs?" She drew back and her expression turned to shock, obviously not expecting this response. "I don't know. The bell went for break." She mused. "Oh but there's been this evacuation thing going on."

Human. No help. No surprise. He turned and started to walk away from her.

"Wait! Where are you going?"

"You best get outside. Things are gonna get messy here." Footsteps echoed through the corridor, stopping momentarily, probably picking up her shoe, before resuming until she was at his side.

"Oh no!" she said. "I am **sick** of being kept out the loop. You know what's going on, I'm sticking with you."

"I'm not a bloody babysitter."

"I'm not a baby." She left it hanging in the air and he honestly had no argument against that. She got hurt then it was her own fault.

The corridor was long and their footsteps echoed off the walls. Neither of them spoke, Spike rather unsettled by the girl's presence. She was small, that much was clear but she was very fierce. No doubt she was singled out by others due to her being shorter than everyone else.

He'd probably never really understand humans. Sometimes they could be so cruel to one another.

They followed the corridor as it turned sharply to the right and saw Sarah running towards them.

"Spike!" she skidded to a halt about a couple of feet in front of them. Her attention snapped to Spike's companion. "Insha?"

"What the hell is going on?" Insha looked ready to stamp her foot in frustration.

"Spike!" Sarah ignored Insha turning her attention to the vampire again. "There's a vampire. Another one. She's trying to kill Liz."

"Oh my God!" Insha gasped.

"Spike?"

He hadn't been listening.

There was a smell on the air. It had been lingering for a while but the smell had slowly increased. The air was practically saturated with it now. Sweet, intoxicating, tinged with metal. Something Sarah had said broke through.

_She's trying to kill Liz._

Shit.

He barely thought about what he was doing before he was rushing off. He passed a few rooms and a lot of carnage, taking none of it in. He was following the scent. It would lead him to the fight he was itching for.

Part of him considered why he was going so fast. The overwhelming smell? The prospect of a fight? To try and save Beebs? He didn't think it was the last one. All she ever seemed to do was shout at him and put him down. Call him stupid.

Then the screaming started.

Loud and piercing; it carried on but almost too quickly started to diminish.

Skidding to a stop he saw her. Beebs. She was screaming…had been screaming. It was gone, the noise, but the smell was even stronger now. Someone, a woman, was stood on the other side of her; head bowed over her heavily bleeding shoulder.

"Oi!" he yelled, the anger unmissable.

The woman's head lifted and Spike saw Beebs' head roll to the side.

"You." her tongue traced her lips, picking up the blood that laced them. Spike stood there, not sure how to react as she took her hold off of Beebs, letting her fall to the floor. His eyes watched her, willing her to stand up or grasp her neck; anything to show she was still alive. Nothing; she just laid there like a ragdoll, unmoving. He didn't even see the first blow coming.

It knocked him backward; clean off his feet. He could feel the blood pouring from his nose almost instantly.

"I know you know where it is." She said. "You were guarding the gateway."

"What the bloody hell are you talking about?" he spat the blood out as it ran into his mouth.

"The gateway here. Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about."

"Who's acting?" he laughed. This bitch was something else; most of them spoke in riddles but this one wasn't saying anything comprehensible.

She inclined her head. "You don't remember."

"Remember what? Talk sense, love."

"The gateways can do that." She wasn't watching him, too caught up in her own thoughts and never saw Spike coming as he tackled her.

They smashed through the tree that stood before the school's entrance; it bent in two, snapping and falling. When they stopped skidding across the floor, he punched her in the face over and over.

His thoughts kept flashing back to the conversation they'd had last night; and the body on the concrete behind him.

_My dad used to race motorcycles. I don't think mum ever did anything really. I've got one older sister, away at university, and one younger brother, he lives with mum._

The woman grabbed his shoulders and threw him to the side, knocking him into the wall of a classroom.

_We used to go on these family holidays to resorts all over England; Granddad's been going over all the footage recently. Most of it's embarrassing to watch ten years on._

She came over and lifted him above her head before hurling him back across the tree. He hit the floor hard and skidded for about twenty feet before coming to a stop beneath the sealed balcony.

_Mum and dad divorced when I was 7. I remember because they bought me a guitar for my birthday but when I was 8 dad had been kicked out._

His eyes were caught by the door that led outside. There were people outside; lots of people. But if he could get her out there…

_I didn't like living with mum. She wasn't what you'd call a good mother. Wasn't responsible. Hated kids. Well, that's what I wanted to believe._

The sunlight was unnatural. It warmed his skin and confused him. She was right behind her, he could feel it.

_When mum said she didn't want me and my sister anymore…I kinda broke down. Who was so repulsive that even their own mother didn't want them? Dad knew it hurt us bad but he couldn't be there for us. Two days later he went in to hospital._

Turning to face her, she punched him and he punched back. The fighting increasing, continuing; neither one of them was willing to give up.

_No one really told me anything. Thought I needed to be spared the grief. His death wasn't sudden; not really. It was for me._

He paused; unwillingly gave her a margin. She smashed him into a wall, creating a hole before tossing him towards the grass bank.

_Television is my escape. I can visit worlds and people and not have to think about my shitty little life. I have 'friends' in all sorts of places each of them willing to 'include me' in whatever it is that's going on._

She pounced but so did he. Blood was dripping all down his face, mixing with the grass. It hurt.

_This probably sounds stupid._

They collided in mid-air and Spike felt one of his bones crunch.

Of course it sounded stupid. On its own. Put it with everything else though…she'd lost the only person who would take her when she felt repulsive, at a really young age. Buffy at least had been older when she'd lost Joyce. She'd struggled through all sorts of shit.

Clutching his side, he ran towards the building. If he could just get there.

When he, someone she recognised, someone she'd watched numerous times on TV, had turned up in her living room, she'd taken it upon herself to 'protect' him; hide him. She had told him the truth and allowed him (well sort of) to throw her at a wall when he'd taken it badly.

She was close behind him, laughing at the thrill of the chase, lost in the fight. They were almost at the corner.

Now she laid there, most likely dead. He hoped not. She was a good person. A horribly annoying, loud-mouthed, opinionated person but she had done good.

Waiting round the back, his eyes kept flickering to the wall. She flew round the corner and leapt towards him. He grabbed her wrists, twisting them in an attempt to throw her at the wall but her feet knocked his legs out from under him and he lost his grip.

She was laughing again when Spike looked up. She was stood there; right in front of it.

He let the image of Beebs on the concrete fill his mind as he stood up and charged her.

She became winded and both of them hurtled at the wall. As soon as they hit it, the blue ripples skipped over the wall and they fell through the door.

As it engulfed Spike, one thought crossed his mind.

Beebs better appreciate this.


	9. Epilogue Through the Door

**Disclaimer: **Don't own characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer or any other shows mentioned throughout this fic.

Carefully the students of Sixth Form filed through the doors and passed into the Meeting Hall. Several people patted Sarah on the shoulder as they passed, each of them wishing her good luck.

It was August 21st and several months had passed since the incident had occurred. Life had definitely been changed by the occurrences. Both Sarah and Insha had become fairly popular with fellow students after video footage emerged of them walking in the Street with Spike. Insha had taken to it right away, glad to be rid of taunts about her size. Sarah however had been unsure how to react.

Invitations to parties and general nights out had flooded in her direction and she was unable to refuse everything; or it seemed do anything wrong. Several boys had asked her out recently but she'd turned them all down knowing full well they weren't interested in her but her sudden fame.

Liz had spent about two months in hospital, the majority of that time she'd been unconscious due to lack of blood. Doctors hadn't had much hope due to the mass amounts of blood she'd lost and severe trauma she'd been through. They were convinced that she wouldn't wake up again, and if she did she'd be brain damaged or shocked beyond recognition. Despite their fears she woke up after six weeks showing no signs of major damage except a bit of flesh between her left shoulder and neck that had been removed as it had been severely damaged. Shortly after she was discharged from hospital in time to do exams.

She wasn't dead or overly distant but Liz had changed. Sarah had expected as much. Being bitten by a psychotic vampire and left for dead was sure to have some effect on her. In the lessons they shared she'd barely said a word and kept to herself. Others had avoided her; worried she might bite them or something ridiculous like that. She'd become an outcast; an outsider.

Exams had taken place, despite the school being beyond repair in some areas. Summer was in full swing and beginning to wind down. Today was results day and the day people found out their fate. Good, bad, mediocre; some people didn't care, desperate to get away to college.

The woman at the desk asked Sarah her name before handing her an A4 envelope. She stood there with the brown package and hesitated. Her eyes wondered over the people around her who were eagerly ripping their envelope apart and either crying with joy or disappointment at what awaited them inside. The person she was looking for was nowhere to be seen.

Carefully, she slid out her results and breathed in. She let it out again, almost a sob. An A in general studies; no surprise really, general studies was easy. Her other subjects she hadn't done too badly in but, by the looks of it, resitting the year was likely.

A hand on her shoulder caught her by surprise. Turning, she saw Liz.

"How'd you do?" Her face was terribly pale yet her mouth was drawn into a bright smile.

"Not bad." She shifted the papers behind her so that Liz wouldn't see. "You?"

Liz shrugged, her fingers picking at the cuffs of her black leather-like jacket.

"Is that a good shrug or a bad shrug?" Liz only shrugged again.

"Sarah!" someone called across the room.

"Your public awaits you." Liz's smile fell a bit. "See you later." The girl turned and left through the side door.

Something about Liz's sudden departure unnerved Sarah, so as soon as she was able to ditch all her 'friends' she followed out the same door. It was fairly obvious where Liz had gone.

The magnetic doors hadn't been replaced yet so there was just a great hole where the doors had been. Passing through them and going behind the SF block she saw Liz bent over a backpack.

"Going somewhere?"

"Yup." Liz didn't look up.

"Through the door?"

"That's the plan."

"On your own?" Liz paused but didn't look up. "Are you sure about this?"

"Spike went through there."

"And he's a perfectly capable vampire." Sarah didn't understand this. "I don't think you should go through there."

"And why not?"

"We have no idea, what the hell is beyond that." She pointed at the wall. "It could anything. You go through there and you could end up in a world that would feature lots of pain and ultimately death!" she hissed the last word to try and emphasise the point. "Like Saw. Or Nightmare on Elm Street. Or Friday 13th. Or Halloween…or…or…"

"Or it could be the world of the Teletubbies or the Tweenies or that new show Tronji. Who knows I could go through there and end up in the Muppets."

"Okay!" Sarah spoke firmly when Liz took a breath to continue. "If you think for one minute that I'd let you go through that on your own then you are crazy." Liz scoffed at this.

"I'm not a baby you know."

"Then prove it. Act responsibly and don't go through that door."

Liz stood up; her face still deathly pale.

"You're right. Anything could be beyond that. There is an infinite amount of possibilities and any one of them is on the other side of that wall. Not just TV shows but movies, books, things that may only be an idea in our world. Who knows, through there, there could be a world where the human race is descended from prawns. The only thing we know for sure is Spike is on the other side and he hasn't come back."

"Meaning there is probably something dangerous on the other side."

"You don't get it!" Liz snapped. "If he doesn't get back there's no way of knowing what might happen. He's meant to be in his own world and not being there could be putting pressure on existence."

"You have no idea what you're talking about!" Sarah screamed. "And personally there is no way I'm going through there if the Teletubbies are on the other side."

Liz burst into laughter and Sarah tried not to laugh herself.

"Me neither but the point is that the other side could be dangerous, yes. I get that. But it's just as likely going to be something completely harmless; or stupid."

Sarah breathed deeply.

"If you left it, life could go back to normal."

"A fictional vampire turned up in my house, tried to bite me and failed. So I snuck him into school where he threw me at a wall and attacked my friend. Eventually he lured a psychotic bitch vamp to me in time to try and kill me before both of them tumbled through a door to another world. Yeah that's normal."

"I mean before all that." Liz shook her head.

"Things have changed." Her tone was sombre. "I'm the loner, the outcast. People look at me and see the girl brought the freak to school and who nearly died because of it."

Liz had been avoided by more or less everyone since she'd come back to school. It was a big change from before when most of the people she'd passed in the corridor would stop her for a chat and everyone would fight to talk to her. It hadn't occurred to Sarah that this might be part of the reason for Liz's 'self-isolation'.

"And then there's you and Insha."

"What? Me?"

"Well more Insha actually. Do you honestly think she's gonna give up being respected for once?" Liz shook her head. "Things can't be back to the way it was. This is the new normal."

Sarah thought through what Liz was saying. It made sense. The things which had happened had made irreversible changes to the way people looked at the three of them. Alright, she didn't enjoy her newfound attention, but Insha did and it would be kinda cruel to ask her to give that up in pursuit of an unachievable normality.

And the decision to find Spike made sense too. In the almost year that she'd known Liz, she'd always seemed more at ease talking about fictional characters to escape when she was scared or confused. And in all fairness, if it was Edward Cullen then Sarah would have jumped through the door before anyone had blinked.

"I'm coming with you." she finally said out loud.

"Your call." Liz nodded at her. "Bringing the bag or leaving it in the locker?"

Sarah grasped at her shoulder bag. She'd completely forgotten about it. It didn't really have anything in it; a few essentials but nothing very much. The strap was old and worn, constantly threatening to snap.

"I'll bring it." She said, by the time she'd taken it to her locker Liz would probably go through without her and she'd never have the courage to go through on her own. "You never know, it may be useful."

She glanced to the bag at Liz's feet. It wasn't her usual school bag; it was a shoulder bag in the same style and same colour as her old one.

"Your bag?"

"Yeah. Been planning this a while. Be prepared and all that." Sarah swallowed.

"So we gonna go now?"

"Yeah." Liz hoisted the bag onto her shoulder. "I was thinking of taking a Harry Potter approach."

"Harry Potter?"

"Yeah. You know…in the first book to get to platform nine and three-quarters they went through the wall and generally they would run at it."

"Right." Sarah walked over so she was stood next to Liz facing the wall. "We're going to run at a wall." It was a statement of fact; she was trying to convince herself to do it.

"You can take a minute if you want." It must have shown in her voice.

"No, it's alright." She swallowed again.

"Are you sure?"

"Let's do this before I change my mind."

"Alright." Liz turned her attention back to the wall. "After three." She breathed in. "Three."

'Wait!' Screamed Sarah's common sense. 'Is this the right thing to be doing?'

"Two."

"Do we go on one or just after one?"

"One." And Liz sprinted forwards. Leaving Sarah standing.

It only took a second to respond after swearing under her breath.

Sarah was running towards the wall which held the invisible blue door; beyond it could lie anything. Salvation, death, a world filled with toothpaste for all she knew. She was taking her life in her hands, risking everything. Why? To be there for a friend.

Did she realise what Sarah was doing for her? Most likely. Liz had probably waited to see if she would come. It was clear that Liz had planned on going regardless of whether Sarah was coming along or not.

It took a while before she reached the wall and as it got closer Sarah closed her eyes. Whatever was on the other side, they'd deal.

Just before she hit the wall a thought crossed her mind.

She hated vampires.

_To be continued…_


End file.
